Eastern Province net profit rises 4.8% YoY

Eastern Province Cement Company (EPCC) posted a 4.8 per cent rise in net profit for the first quarter of 2013, which the company attributed the increase to a better performance at one of its affiliate companies.

For the first three months to the end of March 2013, net profit rose to SAR109m (US$ 29.1m) compared to SAR104m in the same period a year earlier.

Earnings per share (EPS) stood at SAR 1.27, compared with SAR 1.21.

Operating profit, however, fell to  SAR104m for the first three months of 2013, down from SAR111m a year earlier.

EPCC has 3.2Mta of cement capacity and has been in the process of adding 600tpd of oil well cement capacity at Khursaniyah in 2012 with LV Technology appointed project consultant.