Saudi’s Tasnee says outlook more positive by year-end

KHOBAR / Reuters

Saudi Arabia’s National Industrialization Co’s chief executive expects to see the benefits of a restructuring soon and has a more positive outlook for the chemicals market.
Like many Saudi petrochemical firms, Tasnee’s earnings have suffered as its product prices are closely tied to oil prices, which have slumped since mid-2014.
To combat poor market conditions, Tasnee said last year that it would undertake a major restructuring to cut costs and revise contracts. On Sunday, Tasnee posted a narrower first-quarter net loss, beating analysts’ forecasts due to higher sales volumes, and did not suffer the same negative impact from financial contracts at a
subsidiary.
Although much depended on the direction of oil prices and the performance of the global economy, Mutlaq al-Morished said he saw potential for an improved outlook for the rest of 2016.
“We think it is positive if the prices continue the way they are, titanium dioxide and chemical prices which have shown movement up in March” the CEO told Reuters.
The diversified industrial firm has interests in petrochemicals, metals and chemicals and its Cristal subsidiary is one of the world’s largest producers of titanium
dioxide .