Profits of listed cement firms dropped by 2.7 percent to SR1.77 billion in the second quarter of the current year compared to SR 1.82 billion in the same period last year, according to a financial report.

Meanwhile, the first-half net profits of the listed companies dropped by 6 percent to SR 3.40 billion compared with SR3.64 billion in the corresponding period last year, the report, filed by Al-Riyadh daily, said.

As regards sales, the cement companies realized sales worth SR3.66 billion in Q2 (2014) while the sales costs stood at SR1.72 billion to bring the revenues to nearly SR1.94 billion, or 53 percent of the overall quarterly sales, the report said.

On the other hand, the Saudi cement companies posted operational profits of SR1.79 billion, or 49 percent of quarterly sales.

However, after deduction of operational costs and zakat provisions, the companies realized net profits of SR1.77 billion, or 48 percent of quarterly sales, the report said.

Based on the available data, sales costs of the listed companies represented 47 percent of their sales.

Qasim Cement Co. (QCC) registered the least sales cost rate at 37 percent whereas the Northern Border Cement Co. (NBCC) posted the highest rate at 64 percent.

This has a direct impact on the companies’ revenues where they realized marginal revenuers of 53 percent of their sales where QCC had the highest rate of revenues of 63 percent while the NBCC had the lowest rate of revenues at 36 percent, the report said.

The operational income of the listed cement companies stood at 49 percent of their sales in the second quarter and, once again, QCC realized the highest rate of operational income at 61 percent of sales whereas Jouf Cement Co. (JCC) registered the least rate at 27 percent, according to the report.

Earning per share (EPS) of the listed companies averaged SR0.96 in the second quarter and whereas the Southern Region Cement Co. (SRCC) registered the highest rate at SR1.10 per share, JCC posted the least rate at SR 0.12 per share, the report said.