Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, the biggest petrochemicals producer in the Middle East, has reported a net profit of SR5.51 billion ($1.46 billion), up 5.4 per cent compared to SR5.23 billion for the same period last year.

Announcing the results for the three months ending March 31, Sabic said its net income was 49 per cent higher than SR3.7 billion reported at the end of the fourth quarter of last year.

Sabic has registered a year-on year and quarter-on-quarter rise in net income as average sale prices and volumes of goods sold improved in the first quarter, the company said in a statement to Saudi bourse Tadawul.

The increase in net income is attributable to higher average selling prices and sold quantities despite the strategic restructuring initiative implemented by Sabic in the first quarter 2018 that aims to increase productivity in addition to lowering the cost structure, according to the company.

The impact on total cost as a result of the restructuring initiative amounted to SR1.1 billion, it added.-TradeArabia News Service