Almarai Q110 Net Income Misses Consensus But Revenue Still Going Strong

Saudi Arabia's Almarai has recorded its weakest quarterly earnings in a year following strong acquisition investments in 2009. Headline first quarter (three months to March 31 2010) earnings increased 18.6% year-on-year (y-o-y) to SAR234.1mn (US$62.43mn), significantly weaker than the 35.5% forecast by a Reuters survey. Although earnings missed consensus by a wide margin, BMI sees this merely as a near-term blip in its growth story. A 17.6% y-o-y increase in Q1 sales revenue underlines the continued feed through of strong organic and non-organic growth investment.

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