Sadara first quarter profit surges on chemical prices increase, debt rejig

DUBAI: Sadara Chemical Company reported a surge in profit in the first quarter as the price of its products increased and it booked a sizeable gain from the restructuring of its debts.
First quarter total comprehensive income rose to SR2.04 billion ($544 million) compared with a loss of SR2.24 billion in the year-earlier period and a profit of SR109 million in the fourth quarter of 2020, Sadara said in a filing to the Tadawul.
Revenue increased 80 percent year on year and 31 percent from the previous quarter to SR4.42 billion. Profit per share was SR0.44, compared with a loss of SR0.37 a year earlier.
The improved performance was attributed to “higher selling prices, continuous financial discipline, and the recognition of a modification gain of SR1.05 billion from debt re-profiling,” the company said.
Sadara, a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Dow Chemical, joins other Tadawul-listed Saudi petrochemical producers in reporting a rebound in first-quarter profit.
The sector reported net profits of SR8.5 billion in Q1 compared with collective losses of SR3.2 billion over the same period in 2020, according to data from financial information website Argaam.
Saudi petrochemicals giant SABIC, which accounts for 57 percent of total earnings in the sector, last month reported that its Q1 profits had more than doubled to SR4.86 billion compared to the previous quarter and rebounding from a loss of SR1.05 billion in Q1 2020.
Nine petrochemical companies, including SABIC, were back in the black after reporting losses last year.
Saudi Aramco said in late March it restructured its debt financing for Sadara Chemical Company. The Saudi national oil company also said an agreement had been reached to allocate more natural gas feedstock to the joint venture, which has been building the world’s biggest chemical complex ever delivered in a single phase, in Jubail.
Sahara International Petrochemical Company (Sipchem), which had reported profit after Zakat and tax of SR451 million, said today it had delivered SR136 million in synergies in 2020, or 78 percent of its target in half the timeframe.
Saudi International Petrochemical Company completed its $2 billion merger with Sahara in May 2019. It has a goal of SR175 million of synergies by May 20222, it said in an investor presentation.