Riyadh – Mubasher: Yamama Cement on Thursday reported turning to losses in the second quarter and first half of 2018.
The cement firm registered SAR 36,254 ($9,665) in losses between April and June versus SAR 12,170 ($3,245) in profits in the same period of 2017, according to a filing to the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul).
Yamama Cement logged SAR 13,339 in gross loss in Q2-18 versus SAR 32,948 in gross profit in the year-ago period, and suffered SAR 29,595 in operating loss against SAR 15,248 in operating profits in Q2-17.
The Saudi cement firm attributed its Q2-18 losses to lower quantities and value of sales due to a decline in demand in the local Saudi market added to a sharp drop in prices due to stiff competition.
An SAR 1.7 million fall in revenues in Q2-18 added to an SAR 1.9 million increase in Zakat allocation also contributed to the losses incurred during the three-month period ended 30 June, Yamama Cement stated.
As for the six-month period ended 30 June 2018, the Saudi-listed cement company suffered SAR 12,411 in net losses against SAR 62,993 in net profits in the first half of 2017.
Yamama Cement achieved SAR 25,471 in gross profit in H1-18, down 73.43% year-on-year from SAR 95,864.
It registered a loss per share (LPS) of SAR 0.06 in H1-18 against earnings per share (EPS) of SAR 0.31 in H1-17, its statement showed.
The company previously posted a 53% drop in profits to SAR 23.8 million in Q1-18 from SAR 50.8 million in the year-ago period.
Yamama Cement's stock closed Thursday down 1.68% to SAR 15.24.
