Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) announced Sunday that its full-year profit rose about 16.87 percent to $5.7 billion.
Speaking at the press conference to announce the company’s financial results of 2018, Chief Executive Yousef al-Benyan indicated that SABIC expects to face challenges this year due to uncertainty over the impact of a global trade war on the United States and China.
“We’ve seen stabilization for some of the prices, still there are some challenges ahead of us,” Benyan stated.
Benyan also announced that SABIC’s biggest shareholder, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), is in talks to sell its majority stake to Aramco, describing the move as “positive”. Any further details are a matter for PIF and Aramco, he added.
“We are part of the global economic system, we are always affected by challenges but we are able to adapt to these challenges in the best way.”
The CEO also indicated that SABIC is still working on achieving its 2025 strategy visions through various alliances with international companies. He added the company will determine later if it needs to increase its 24.99 percent stake in Switzerland’s Clariant after the two companies decided to merge their high-performance materials businesses.
He said SABIC will continue to raise its presence in Africa, as it is seen as a very promising market.
He pointed out that a decline in petrochemical prices had significantly impacted the profitability in the fourth quarter compared to profits in the previous period of the year.
Benyan noted that SABIC's year-end pricing challenge did not discourage its focus on continued business transformation and operational excellence while achieving long-term strategic growth objectives.
Total revenue reached $45 billion, an increase of 12.9 percent from the previous year. Earnings per share reached $1.9, an increase of 17 percent over last year. Net profit for the fourth quarter was $ 850 million, down 12.43 percent from the same period last year and a decrease of 46.88 percent compared to the third quarter of 2018.
The company said that the results reflected an improvement in the average selling price of SABIC products, as well as the success of the corporate-led transformation initiatives to enhance their competitiveness globally.
