Acting CEO of SABIC Yousef Abdullah Al-Benyan with other executives address a press conference in Riyadh on Sunday to announce the company’s interim financial results for the period ending on Sept. 30, 2015.

The Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) announced Sunday its third-quarter sales at SR37.3 billion, down from SR48.7 billion compared to the same period last year.

SABIC, Saudi Arabia’s largest listed company, had earlier said its third-quarter net profit fell 9.4 percent to SR5.6 billion. This was a larger profit than analysts had on average forecast.

Acting CEO of SABIC, Yousef Abdullah Al-Benyan described SABIC’s earnings as “very positive given global economic conditions.”

He added: “Cost cutting enabled SABIC to limit the impact of a 23 percent drop in third-quarter sales on its bottom line.”

He said the decrease in the net income is attributable to lower average sales prices despite the reduction in cost of sales.

He said SABIC had reduced its costs by an average of 22 percent in the first nine months of 2015 through improved efficiency, but did not provide further details.

Benyan said SABIC could deal with any cuts to subsidies or changes to gas feedstock prices.

The company, 70-percent state-owned, has no plans to issue bonds before the end of 2015, Benyan added.

He did not provide further details on how SABIC reduced costs, but described SABIC’s earnings as “very positive given global economic conditions.”

The company’s products, including plastics, fertilizers and metals, are used in construction, agriculture, industry and the manufacturing of consumer goods, so its performance is tied to world economic growth.

SABIC is considering petrochemical joint ventures in China and the United States and could make announcements to that effect in the first quarter of 2016, Benyan said in a separate interview with Reuters.

The corporation said in a statement posted on the Tadawul on Sunday that earnings per share during the first nine months of this year are SR5.24, compared to SR6.36.

Related articles across the web

• Saudi Basic Industries cuts domestic rebar steel price
• Gulf stocks rebound across-the-board
• Investors Turn Optimistic on Saudi Arabia - Invesco
• THAILAND PRESS-TCC Land Group sets $1.4 bln investment budget for 2016 - The Nation
• Hewlett-Packard set to cut between 25,000 and 30,000 jobs
• HP to cut up to 33,300 jobs over next three years | Reuters
• HP says to cut 25,000 to 30,000 jobs in enterprise business
• HP says printing and PC business to 'remain tough' in coming quarters
• Euronext, Shanghai Stock Exchange tie up to boost data business in China
• COSCO, China Shipping Admit Possible 'Asset Restructuring'