Almarai profit up 13% in Q4

JEDDAH — Saudi Arabia's Almarai, the Gulf's largest dairy company, reported a 13 percent increase in fourth-quarter net profit on Sunday. Almarai made a profit of SR483.7 million ($129.06 million) in the three months to Dec. 31, up from SR428 million in the year-earlier period, it said in a bourse statement. Almarai said its fourth-quarter sales were SR3.58 billion, versus SR3.33 billion in the same period of 2014. "(The) cost of sales increased at a lower rate due to improving in-put costs and better cost management," Almarai's statement said. In December, the company decided to hike its dividend for 2015 and increase its share capital by 33 percent through the issuance of bonus shares to help support its growth plans. — Reuters