National Industrialization invests 2 billion riyals in investment projects
Riyadh- Amlak
National Industrialization Company (NIC) held a press conference in which it revealed the latest developments in the company's investments, where Engineer Saleh bin Fahad Al-Nuzha, CEO of NIC, explained that the reasons for the decrease in the company's profits for last year by about 579 million riyals, compared to the profits of the previous year 2012, which were 1764 million riyals, the decline in the selling price of titanium dioxide product, and the decline in the price per ton from about 3300 dollars to about 2300 dollars.
He stressed in the press conference held by the company, last week, on the occasion of the announcement of the company's financial results, that last year witnessed a significant decline in the prices of the titanium dioxide sector, which in turn led to a decline in the profit margin from the sales of that product, which represents about 45% of the company's production volume, despite the high rates of demand in the market, where the company's total sales at the end of last year increased to 18.2 billion riyals compared to 2012 sales, which were worth 17.9 billion riyals.
National Industrialization's profits fell to 1,185 million riyals to reach EPS of 1.77 riyals at the end of 2013, down 33%. He said that although the prices of the petrochemical sector improved during the past year, which in turn represents about 45% of the company's product volume, this did not help in increasing profits, due to the decline in production volume due to maintenance work in the company's factories during the past year, stressing the importance of the precautions taken by the company during the period of regular maintenance to provide sufficient inventory so that maintenance does not affect the company's obligations to its customers.
On why the fourth quarter profit increased by 33% compared to the third quarter of 2013, the company explained that the increase is due to two main factors, the first is the improvement in petrochemical prices, and the third quarter was charged with a provision to offset the costs of settling a lawsuit filed against one of National Industrialization's subsidiaries.
Regarding the company's future investments, Al-Nuzha revealed that the company obtained at the end of this year a refinancing from local banks worth 4 billion riyals, of which about 50% will be allocated to repay previous loans, while about 2 billion will be allocated for expansions in some current projects and study investment in new projects for the company.
Nuzha said that the increase in the third quarter of 2013 was due to the improvement in petrochemical prices.
