Ma’aden Announces 65% Increase in Third Quarter Net Profit on Boost in Sales

The Saudi Arabian Mining Company, one of the largest mining companies in the Gulf, reported a more than 65% increase in net profit in the third quarter as sales rose and average prices for its products rose.

Ma’aden, as the Riyadh-listed company is called, posted 2.1 billion Saudi riyals ($560.67 million) in the three months to the end of June, compared to 1.27 billion riyals recorded at the same period last year, he said in a filing. on the Tadawul stock exchange on Tuesday, where its shares are traded.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose 37% at the end of the third quarter to more than 4.2 billion riyals. It was, however, lower than the 6.9 billion riyals recorded in the second quarter of this year due to the overall decline in commodity prices and rising raw material costs, Ma’aden said.

Revenue for the July-September quarter jumped nearly 50% to 10 billion riyals. The company’s quarterly gross profit for the reporting period jumped more than 67% to 3.57 billion riyals.

“During the quarter, Ma’aden increased production volumes and continued to build the platform to meet our ambitious growth targets. Our goal is to deliver long-term growth and we remain on track for a record year, supported by the company’s strong cash generation, diversified operations and global customer base,” said Robert Wilt, Chief Executive Officer of Ma’aden, in a separate statement. .

“It mitigated the impact of external pressures in Q3…which have already started to normalize in Q4.”

Looking ahead, Ma’aden remains optimistic and said he will remain focused on developing operations to “deliver sustained, market-leading growth while establishing mining as the third pillar of the Saudi economy.” .

Ma’aden said that a 22% drop in technical services expenses and “an increase in term deposit income, [rising] 7.5 times due to increased investment placed and deposit rates,” contributed to quarterly net profit.

The rise in other non-operating income which increased 8.2x due to a one-time insurance claim income of 195 million riyals against a limited fire at MPC’s ammonia plant in the second quarter of the year. Last year also boosted net income, Ma’aden said in the stock market filing. .

For the nine-month period, Ma’aden’s net income jumped more than 164% annually to reach 8.3 billion riyals. Sales jumped nearly 69%, or 30.8 billion riyals, during the period.

Ma’aden, majority-owned by the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund, is central to Riyadh’s economic diversification strategy. The expansion of the industrial and mining sectors is one of the key objectives of the kingdom’s Vision 2030 agenda.

The mining law aimed at boosting foreign direct investment in the sector, which came into force last year, is expected to help the Arab world’s largest economy explore mineral resources worth around 5 trillion riyals and to tap into gold reserves of approximately 20 million ounces, Invest Saudi said last year.

Earlier this yesr, Ma’aden has signed an agreement to build the world’s largest solar-powered steam plant which will be used to refine bauxite into alumina, as part of its expansion strategy.

In April, Ma’aden and Emirates Global Aluminium, the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside the oil and gas sector, agreed to extend a pact to collaborate on greener aluminum smelting technology as part of their efforts to stimulate sustainable production.

The agreement extends an initial pact signed in 2018 and allows the companies to jointly explore and develop new aluminum smelting technology with lower greenhouse gas emissions. said at the time.

Updated: November 01, 2022, 12:30 p.m.