SAUDI Arabian dairy and food producer Almarai Co. posted a 29.2 percent rise in its fourth-quarter net profit, beating analyst forecasts, the firm said in a bourse statement Saturday. Almarai made a net profit of SR369 million ($98.4 million) in the three months ending Dec. 31, compared with SR286 million in the same period a year earlier. “The reason for higher sales and profit growth for the fourth quarter compared to the corresponding period of the previous year is due to strong performance from all products, especially poultry and bakery,” it said in the statement. In a separate statement Almarai said it plans to issue a dividend of SR1.25 per share for the full-year period. Operating profit rose 27.4 percent to SR437 million in the fourth-quarter. Almarai has been keen to expand its footprint outside its core presence in the Gulf region. In December it acquired Fondomonte SA, which owns and operates firms in Argentina, to secure feed for its dairy herd and poultry business. In November Almarai said it plans to issue the second tranche of a riyal-denominated Islamic bond program to private investors in the coming months. It raised SR1 billion through the first tranche in March in a deal that was 4.7 times oversubscribed. Proceeds from the sukuk are seen helping finance Almarai's $4.2 billion investment program, aimed to expand its business between 2013 to 2017. — SG
