Oman Cement Company's second quarter profit more than doubled, sending its shares surging in early trading on Monday.

The firm made a profit of 7.92 million Omani rials ($20.57 million) according to Reuters calculations, falling in between two analyst forecasts.

Its shares surged 8.7 per cent to 0.68 rials at 0630 GMT, outperforming the country's benchmark which was up 0.9 per cent at 5,964 points.

Oman Cement posted a net profit of 12.58 million rials in the six months ended June 30, compared with 8.54 million rials a year ago, it said on Monday in a statement on the country's bourse website, without giving a quarterly figure.

Reuters calculated the second-quarter figure based on the company's earlier financial statements. Oman Cement posted a profit of 3.57 million rials in the second quarter of 2008 and a profit of 5.18 million rials in the first quarter of this year. - Reuters