Saudi Cement Co reported a 9.6 per cent rise in third-quarter net profit on the back of higher domestic sales. The company made SAR229m (US$61.1m) in the July-September quarter compared to SAR209m in the same period of last year, it said in a bourse filing.

With around 7Mta of capacity, Saudi Cement operates two plants – Hofuf and Ain Dar. In late 2012 it reopened three of its kiln lines at its Hofuf plant, boosting capacity by 1325tpd. This was followed in May this year by an announcement that Sinoma is to rehabilitate lines 4 and 5 at the same works, increasing clinker capacity by 3000tpd by the end of 2013.