Mumtalakat 2012 net loss narrows
Bahrain sovereign fund Mumtalakat said yesterday its net loss for 2012 narrowed by 32.9% as improved performance by its financial services and telecommunications portfolio partly offset lower revenue from its aluminium unit.
One of the smaller sovereign wealth funds in the Gulf region, it had $7.1bn of assets under management at the end of September. It holds stakes in 40 firms in the kingdom’s non-oil sector, including Bahrain Telecommunications Co (Batelco) and Aluminium Bahrain (Alba).
Mumtalakat made a net loss of 181.7mn dinars ($482mn) in 2012, it said in a statement, versus a net loss of 270.6mn a year earlier.
Revenues fell 9.9% mainly due to lower aluminium prices impacting Alba, said the fund, which was set up in 2006 and has posted net losses for the past five years.
Alba, which owns the world’s fourth-largest smelter, posted a 54.4% fall in profits. It was hurt by aluminium cash prices on the London Metals Exchange which fell 16% to an average of $2,019 per metric tonne.
Savola
Saudi Arabia’s Savola Group expects third-quarter earnings to decline against last year despite posting a 13.6% rise in second-quarter net profit thanks to increased market share in the kingdom’s retail sector.
The food company said in a bourse statement yesterday that net profit for the next quarter is expected to come in at 370mn riyals ($98.7mn), against the 405.2mn riyals it made in the three months to September 30 last year.
The company also posted second-quarter earnings, with net profit beating its own expectations for the quarter and tallying with forecasts of the majority of analysts polled by Reuters.
Savola made a net profit of 387.8mn riyals for the three months to June 30, against 341.3mn riyals in the same period last year.
Four analysts polled by Reuters had forecast between 383mn and 395mn riyals, while the company said its internal forecast was 365mn riyals.
Savola attributed the uplift from last year’s second quarter to its greater market share in the retail sector and “sustained growth in the edible oil segment”, a bourse statement said.
Savola also proposed a second-quarter dividend of 0.5 riyals per share, a separate bourse filing said. This is higher than the 0.3 riyals it proposed for the same quarter of 2012.
Sipchem
Saudi International Petrochemical Co (Sipchem) posted a 27.9% jump in second-quarter net profit yesterday, which it attributed to higher sales and improvements made to its plants during the first three months of the year.
The firm made a net profit of 174mn riyals ($46.4mn) for the three months to June 30, compared with 136.1mn riyals in the corresponding period of 2012, a bourse filing said.
The figure beat the average forecast of four analysts polled by Reuters, who expected a net profit of 151.3mn riyals in the period.
Sipchem said on Tuesday it would pay a dividend of 0.6 riyals a share for the first half of the year.
United Arab Bank
Sharjah’s United Arab Bank reported an 18% year-on-year rise in second-quarter net profit yesterday as interest income spiked.
The lender made a profit of 140mn UAE dirhams ($38mn) for the period, versus 118mn dirhams last year, according to financial statements on the Abu Dhabi bourse website.
UAB was helped by a 36% jump in net interest income to 184mn dirhams and a rise in fee and commission income. The bank, however, also reported higher provisions for credit losses. Provisions were 38mn dirhams in the second quarter, up from 13mn dirhams in the same period last year.