Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) said yesterday its first-quarter net profit rose 116 percent from the same period last year to SR5.08 billion ($1.36 billion). SABIC, the Kingdom's largest listed firm, said in a statement posted on the Saudi stock exchange website that first-quarter profits were also up eight percent from the last three months of 2004. Total sales increased two percent from the first quarter of 2004 to 8.3 million tons.