Profits at Bahri, formerly The National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia, dropped 93 percent in the first half of the year as revenue from transporting oil slumped on lower volumes and prices.
Net profit after zakat and tax of SR82.5 million ($22 million) compared with SR1.18 billion in the same period a year earlier, Bahri said in a filing to the Saudi stock exchange, Tadawul. Total revenue of SR2.48 billion represented a decline of 56 percent on the first six months of 2020.
The drop in profit was attributed to a 67 percent slump in revenue from shipping oil due to the sharp drop in transportation rates and operations.
However, an increase in bunker subsidies and other income along with decrease in zakat and income tax, financing expenses and the provision on trade receivables and contract assets, helped offset the fall in oil-related revenue, the company said.
Bahri, established in 1978 as a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and the Public Investment Fund, owns and manages a fleet of 89 tankers and container ships dedicated to transporting oil, petrochemicals, dry bulk and other cargo.
The company’s shares fell 1.9 percent to SR38.25 as of 3:12 p.m. in Riyadh.
Source: Arab News