Saudi International Petrochemical Co (Sipchem) posted a 27.9 per cent rise in second-quarter net profit on Wednesday, 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 174 million riyals ($46.4 million) for the three months to June 30, compared with 136.1 million 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 151.3 million 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.

The company and fellow petchem firm Sahara Petrochemical said last month they had begun initial talks on a possible merger. - Reuters