RIYADH: Sales at Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) dropped 12.4 percent in the first quarter of 2016, its acting chief executive said on Tuesday, adding that the firm had slashed costs at its steel unit to cope with a slowdown in the sector.
Total sales at the company, one of the world’s largest petrochemicals firms, were 31.15 billion riyals ($8.31 billion) in the three months to March 31, compared with 35.56 billion riyals in the corresponding period of 2015.
SABIC had reported on Monday a 13.2 percent year-on-year drop in net profit for the first quarter, with earnings dragged down by lower average selling prices for its products and a 725 million riyal loss at its metals business. Yousef Abdullah al-Benyan told a news conference in Riyadh that SABIC had cut costs at Hadeed, its steel business, by 17 percent in the first quarter versus the final quarter of 2015. He didn’t elaborate.
