Saudi-Arabia-based City Cement reported a 56.9 per cent YoY drop in net profits for 2017 to SAR93.3m (US$24.9m).

In 2016 net profits reached SAR216.3m, but a 48 per cent fall in net profits in 4Q17 put pressure on last year’s results. Net profits during the last quarter of 2017 decreased to SAR23.9m from SAR45.9m a year earlier.

The cement producer attributed the decline in profits to a drop in sales as well as higher production costs.

City Cement’s sales fell 11 per cent to SAR535.39m in 2017, compared with SAR601.89m in 2016.