Industries Qatar second quarterly profit inches up, meets forecasts

Industries Qatar second quarterly profit inches up, meets forecasts

H1 net profit 4.04 bln riyals-statement, Q2 net profit 2.14 bln riyals-Reuters calculations; IQ shares rise 1.85 pct on Doha bourse

August 8, 2012 4:26 by Reuters

Industries Qatar, the Gulf’s second-largest petrochemicals firm, posted a slight rise in second quarter profits on Wednesday, falling in line with analyst estimates.

The Qatari firm had net profit of 2.14 billion riyals for the quarter ended June 30, according to Reuters calculations based on financial statements. That compared with profit of 2.08 billion riyals a year earlier.

Analysts forecast average profit of 2.09 billion riyals, in a Reuters poll.

The company said it had first-half net profit of 4.04 billion riyals, down slightly from 4.17 billion in the same period last year.

Petrochemical prices have strengthened in recent months, but worries persist over the impact of a global slowdown on industry earnings in the world’s top oil exporting region.

In February, IQ inaugurated Qafco 5, a 1 million tonne urea facility while Qatar Petrochemical Co(QAPCO) – which is 80-percent owned by Industries Qatar and 20 percent held by France’s Total – began operating its polyethylene 3 plant during the second quarter.

“The marginal improvement in profitability was a result of the group posting stronger revenues, given the addition of Qafco-5 and QAPCO’s LDPE 3 during the quarter,” Egyptian brokerage Beltone Financial said in a research note.

“Segmentally, Qafco had the largest contribution to the group’s consolidated profits, given the addition of Qafco,” Beltone added.

IQ shares were up 1.1 percent on the Doha index at midday.

($1=3.638 Qatari riyals)

(Reporting By Regan Doherty; Editing by Amran Abocar)