Alujain’s Q1 earnings buoyed by higher demand, margins: CEO

Abdullah Audah Al-Enazi, Chief Executive Officer of Alujain Corporation, told Argaam that his company's extraordinary earnings in Q1 2018 were a direct result of higher income from associate NATPET and a 16 percent increase in profit margins.

Alujain is a Saudi-listed company that produces polypropylene from its 57.4 percent-owned subsidiary (NATPET); the latter operates a propylene and polypropylene complex in Yanbu Industrial City.

Alujain saw its net income more than double in Q1 2018 to around SAR 62.5 million from SAR 28.9 million YoY.

The company's top executive said the margins between crude oil prices and final petrochemical products rose to an average 28 percent from four percent, as oil prices surged by 22 percent in 2018.

He expected such margins to increase by a further 10-13 percent, if oil prices stuck to the uptrend, whereby the aggregate earnings of the Saudi petrochemical sector may reach 26 percent by end of 2018.

The CEO said the shutdown of some of the company's plants in Q1 caused a slight drop in its supplies to local market.

The company, however, saw increased demand from China that introduced new taxes on US imports, creating opportunities for other international suppliers.

Regarding new business in Saudi Arabia, Al-Enazi said his company is studying new projects under its five-year strategy that is being reviewed by the board.

"Vision 2030 has opened large and promising opportunities, and we seek to seize such opportunities to maximize our returns and mitigate risks," he said.