Saudi Aramco’s 3Q earnings drop on the back of production cuts and falling oil prices: Saudi oil giant Saudi Aramco posted a 23% y-o-y drop in its 3Q earnings, according to an earnings release (pdf) yesterday. Net income fell to USD 32.6 bn in the quarter, down from USD 42.4 bn in the same period last year. The oil company that is 90% owned by the Saudi government and 8% owned by the country’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) pointed towards the “impact of lower crude oil prices and volumes sold,” which is widely understood to stem from the country’s voluntary cuts to production and a particularly good year for oil in 2022.

But investor payouts are still a go: Despite its contraction in earnings, Aramco paid dividends worth USD 29.4 bn to its shareholders, Bloomberg reported. As the majority shareholder, the Saudi government relies on dividends from the country’s largest company for many of its mega projects and propping up the state budget.

Speaking of falling prices: Brent crude closed4.2% down yesterday at only USD 81.61 a barrel partly on the back of a market correction from when fears that Israel’s war on Gaza would escalate into a regional conflict shook the markets and sent oil prices climbing.

Fertiglobe earnings return to pre-Ukraine war levels: Earnings at MENA fertilizers firm Fertiglobe continued to normalize following a bumper 2022 in 3Q 2023, which saw revenues fall 60% from a year earlier due to lower prices, according to its latest earnings release (pdf). The company reported USD 525 mn in revenues for the July-September quarter, down sharply from 3Q 2022 when the company raked in USD 1.3 bn due to soaring prices. Fertiglobe saw a similarly large pullback in net income, falling 86% to USD 41 mn.

Remember: Global prices of fertilizers spiked at the onset of the war in the Ukraine, owing to Russia — the world’s largest supplier of fertilizers — facing global sanctions.

EGX30

23,393

+1.5% (YTD: +60.2%)

USD (CBE)

Buy 30.83

Sell 30.96

USD at CIB

Buy 30.85

Sell 30.95

Interest rates CBE

19.25% deposit

20.25% lending

Tadawul

10,946

0.0% (YTD: +4.5%)

ADX

9,551

0.0% (YTD: -6.5%)

DFM

3,990

+0.8% (YTD: +19.6%)

S&P 500

4,378

+0.3% (YTD: +14.0%)

FTSE 100

7,410

-0.1% (YTD: -0.6%)

Euro Stoxx 50

4,153

-0.1% (YTD: +9.5%)

Brent crude

USD 81.61

-4.2%

Natural gas (Nymex)

USD 3.14

-3.8%

Gold

USD 1,973.50

-0.8%

BTC

USD 35,546.41

+1.5% (YTD: +115.6%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 rose 1.5% at yesterday’s close on turnover of EGP 4.3 bn (74.4% above the 90-day average). Regional investors were net sellers. The index is up 60.2% YTD.

In the green: MOPCO (+7.3%), Credit Agricole (+6.5%) and CIRA (+6.3%).

In the red: E-Finance (-4.9%), Juhayna (-2.5%) and TMG Holding (-2.4%).

Tags: