Saudi Arabian Fertilizers Company (Safco) reported a fourth quarter net profit of 1.27 billion riyals ($453 million) on Wednesday, a 25 percent rise over the same period of the previous year that it attributed to a rise in fertiliser prices and sales volumes.

The result beat expectations for the affiliate of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic), with five analysts polled by Reuters anticipating on average a net profit of 1.14 billion riyals.

The company's performance compared to the 1.03 billion riyals it recorded in the fourth quarter of 2010 and a 5 percent increase over the 1.21 billion riyals of profit in the third quarter of 2011. - Reuters