Saudi Arabia’s Yanbu National Petrochemicals Co (Yansab) said it made a non-operating loss in the first quarter as investment income fell.

Yansab, which plans to start operations in mid-2008, made loss of 4.9 million riyals ($1.31 million) in the three months to March 31 compared with non-operating profit of 81.3 million riyals in the year-earlier period, the company said in a statement on the Saudi bourse website.
Yansab, 55-per cent owned by Sabic, raised $525 million in an initial public offering of shares in 2005.
The firm’s first-quarter loss was due to a decline in revenue from investments, the company said, adding these revenues fell to four million riyals at the end of March 2007, compared with 91 million riyals at the end of the first quarter of 2006.
Sabic’s Chief Financial Officer Mutlaq Al-Morished has said most of the firm’s non-operating profit in 2006 came from investment in Islamic instruments.
Yansab made a loss per share of 0.01 riyals compared with 0.15 earnings per share in the year-earlier period, the company said.
The firm has said it plans to invest $5 billion in projects to produce 4.0 million tonnes of petrochemicals a year.
Sabic secured a financing package worth SR13.1 billion for Yansab. last year
The package comprises loans and financing facilities from 19 regional and international banks as well as European export guarantee agencies and the Saudi state-owned Public Investment Fund (PIF).
The banks include HSBC, Citigroup, ABN Amro, BNP-Paribas, Gulf Investment Bank and Arab Banking Corporation.
"The package includes $847 million Islamic financing, which is the biggest ever of a single project," Morished had said.