Saudi-based Arabian Cement reported a 60.2 per cent rise in second-quarter net profit to SAR199.8m (US$53.3m), beating analysts' forecasts.

Al-Rajhi Capital noted that while most cement companies reported weak sales volumes this quarter, Arabian Cement bucked the trend and reported strong sales dispatches (+44 per cent YoY) as the company was relatively unaffected by the broader sector issues.

Arabian Cement's performance to the three months to the end of June 2014 beat Al-Rahji Capital's forecast of SAR15m as well as consensus estimate of SAR166m by a wide margin.