RIYADH, July 19: Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) said second-quarter net profit rose 16.5 per cent to a record after it consolidated earnings of GE’s plastics unit and raised sales amid a global economic slowdown.

SABIC made a net profit of 7.54 billion riyals ($2.02bn) in the three months to June 30 compared with 6.47 billion riyals in the second quarter of 2007, it said in a statement on the bourse website.

The earnings came near the top of analysts’ forecasts who were betting on second-quarter net profit of between 7.16 billion riyals and 7.63 billion riyals, according to a Reuters’ survey last month.

“The second quarter witnessed the highest profit the company achieved in a single quarter since its inception,” the company said in the statement, quoting its Chief Executive Mohamed Al-Mady.

It said operating profit reached 23 billion riyals in the six months to June 30, 2008, up 20 percent from the year-earlier period.

Compared to the first quarter, annual growth of operating profit almost doubled to 26.7 percent in the second-quarter to reach 12.1 billion riyals, based on Reuters calculations and SABIC’s financial data.

Turnover in the first half reached 83 billion riyals, up 54 per cent from the same period of 2007, it added.—Reuters