Domestic demand carries Saudi earnings as industrial exporters absorb shipping costs

Domestic demand is still carrying Saudi earnings while industrial exporters absorb the cost of the shipping disruption. Sabic swung back to a quarterly profit on a non-operational gain even as its distribution costs climbed by nearly SAR 1 bn, Astra Industrial’s earnings fell a fifth on weaker pharmaceuticals and steel, and Dr. Suliman Al Habib grew double digits on new hospital capacity.

Sabic shakes off one-off losses as portfolio adjustments boost its income

Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) reported SAR 499 mn in net income in 3Q 2026, up 15% y-o-y and against a SAR 833 mn loss in 2Q, according to a Tadawul disclosure. Revenue slipped 3.1% y-o-y to SAR 28.2 bn, as a 24% rise in prices nearly offset 22% lower volumes, according to its earnings call (pdf) and release (pdf).

The headline flatters, though: The biggest swing factor was a SAR 1.62 bn y-o-y improvement in results from associates and JVs, driven by a reversed impairment on Sabic’s stake in Swiss chemicals group Clariant after its share price recovered, a noncash, non-operational gain. Working the other way, Sabic booked a SAR 985 mn loss from discontinued operations on foreign-currency adjustments from the completed sale of its Engineering Thermoplastics business in the Americas and Europe. On an adjusted basis, stripping out the one-offs, Sabic posted a SAR 843 mn net income for the quarter, compared to 2Q’s adjusted SAR 380 mn loss.

The segments that carried: Petrochemicals led, with operating income up 49% y-o-y to SAR 1.7 bn. Specialties more than doubled operating income to SAR 280 mn from SAR 130 mn, on AI-infrastructure demand and a richer product mix. Agri-Nutrients lagged, with operating income down 63% y-o-y to SAR 450 mn despite the 68% q-o-q volume jump, as urea prices fell on new Chinese export quotas.

Against 2Q, volumes rebounded hard as Sabic cleared the logistics bottleneck that had choked Gulf exports, chemicals sales volumes rose 24% q-o-q, polymers 23%, and Agri-Nutrients 68%. But average selling prices fell across most key products, polyethylene, polypropylene, and methanol all came off their 2Q highs.

The Hormuz workaround wasn't cheap: Selling and distribution expenses rose SAR 916 mn y-o-y on the continued supply-chain disruption, the price Sabic paid to move shipments through the Strait of Hormuz and its west coast ports, with vessel liftings up 38% q-o-q and polymer volumes shuttled across the Kingdom at 230% of pre-crisis levels. It also completed its first-ever urea shipment through Neom port.

The 9M read stays in the red: Over nine months Sabic posted a net loss of SAR 320 mn, though that’s a sharp narrowing from the SAR 4.84 bn loss a year earlier, on revenue of SAR 79.13 bn, down 10.7% y-o-y from lower volumes. The improvement is mostly about what didn’t repeat: last year carried SAR 3.07 bn more in discontinued-operations losses (the Teesside UK cracker closure) and a SAR 1.07 bn restructuring charge.

What’s next? The company is still reshaping its portfolio, with exits from Hadeed, Alba, functional forms, and the European and ETP businesses generating USD 2.3 bn in proceeds and avoiding USD 1.4 bn in annual losses. Meanwhile, Sabic is working on several growth projects, with three core units at the Fujian Petrochemical Complex completing trial runs and Sabic Agri-nutrients building a new ammonia and urea complex, CEO Faisal Alfaqeer said. It delivered USD 950 mn of its USD 3 bn 2030 transformation target so far.

Pharma and specialty chemicals dragged Astra’s earnings

Astra Industrial Group’s net income fell 19.5% y-o-y to SAR 134.7 mn in 3Q 2026, according to a Tadawul filing. Revenue dropped 19.7% to SAR 586.1 mn. The fall was broad rather than isolated. Revenue and net income dropped by almost the same proportion, with lower pharmaceuticals and steel sales driving the top-line decline and softer gross income in pharmaceuticals and specialty chemicals squeezing earnings.

The 9M read holds up better: Net income slipped just 2.8% y-o-y to SAR 499.9 mn, while revenue declined 5.5% to SAR 2.2 bn. Part of the y-o-y net-income dip was from a tougher comparison. 9M 2025 booked lower general and admin expenses in the steel business after reversing an excess accrual.

New hospitals boosted Suliman Al Habib’s income

Dr. Suliman Al Habib Medical Services Group’s net income rose 13.2% y-o-y to SAR 681.6 mn in 3Q 2026, according to a Tadawul disclosure. Revenue rose 18.4% to SAR 4.1 bn, driven by higher patient volumes and hospital occupancy that also lifted pharmacy sales, plus growth in its HMG solutions arm.

Behind the numbers: Revenue grew faster than net income because of the cost of expansion. The hospitals HMG opened under its expansion programme are still ramping toward full occupancy, so they add revenue before they reach their mature margin. The new capacity also carries start-up costs. The higher activity, however, did help the company absorb fixed costs across the existing network.

Over nine months net income rose 5.6% y-o-y to SAR 1.85 bn, while revenue climbed 15.4% to SAR 11.5 bn with the same volume-and-expansion drivers.

Dividends: The board agreed to distribute SAR 479.5 mn in dividends, equivalent to SAR 1.37 per share, with distribution set for Monday, 16 November, according to a separate disclosure.