JEDDAH – Saudi Arabia's Savola Group reported a 37 percent rise in fourth-quarter net profit on Monday, missing analyst estimates after the food company took an impairment of SR100 million on its investments and commodity prices fell. Savola made a net profit of SR564 million ($150.4 million) in the three months to Dec. 31, up from SR413 million in the prior-year period, according to a bourse filing. Analysts polled by Reuters on average forecast Savola would make quarterly profit of SR642.5 million. Helping to offset the impairment, Savola booked a capital gain of SR231.4 million from land sales in the quarter. It also warned that hyperinflation in Iran and Sudan had negatively affected its operating profit, while lower commodity prices impacted revenue. Savola has proposed a fourth-quarter dividend of SR0.5 per share, according to a separate bourse statement. This was the same as the dividend paid for the prior-year period. The company's full-year profit for 2013 was SR1.7 billion, up from SR1.4 billion in 2012. Earlier on Monday, Savola said it expects make a net profit of SR1.8 billion in 2014. — Reuters
