Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden) posted a forecast-beating 45 per cent increase in its fourth-quarter net profit after it began production of ammonia and di-ammonium phosphate, it said in a bourse statement on Sunday.

The state-controlled minerals firm made a net profit of SR406 million ($108.3 million) in the three months ending December 31, compared with SR280 million in the same period a year earlier.

Two analysts polled by Reuters expected the firm to post between SR316.1 million to SR397 million.

Maaden attributed the increase in its fourth-quarter net profit to the beginning of commercial production of ammonia and DAP, which is di-ammonium phosphate used to make industrial fertiliser.

Operational profit for the fourth-quarter rose by 47 per cent to SR721 million.

The firm is in a phase of rapid production growth, with plans to build a new $1.5 billion aluminium refinery, add a new line to an existing aluminium smelter, and invest $5.6 billion in a phosphate project.

In December Maaden announced that it had raised 9 billion riyals through an Islamic loan facility to help fund its future projects.-Reuters