Raysut Cement, Oman's largest producer of the building material, posted its biggest quarterly profit ever doubling over the year-earlier period on higher sales, including for the Sohar port development project.

Net income in the three months to Dec.31 was RO10.43 million  ($27.10 million), compared with RO4.98 million in the year-earlier period, Reuters calculated, based on full-year data the company released. The earnings beat analysts' forecasts.

Sales surged 70 per cent to RO19.67 million, compared with RO11.54 million in the year-earlier period.

'The government has increased its spending, such as the Sohar port development, and there are new real estate projects, which has increased sales,' S. Sekar, senior accountant at Raysut told Reuters from Oman's Salalah city.

Analysts' forecasts for fourth-quarter profit in a Reuters survey last month ranged from RO5.8 million and RO9.8 million.

Raysut also made RO1.99 million from gains on investment during the fourth-quarter, compared with 160,540 rials in the year-earlier period.

The company includes income from its Yemen operations only in its full-year results, Sekar said.-Reuters