Southern Province Cement Company was established in 1978 to serve the far southwestern region of the kingdom. The company is based in Abha. Government agencies own 40 per cent of the company's equity. Southern Province Cement has raised its paid-in capital to SR 1,050 million ($280 million) through a three-for-two stock dividend.

The company has completed work on a new 1.2 million-tonne-a-year (t/y) cement plant in Bisha. The original plant is based in Jizan and has capacity of 1.9 million t/y. However, the unit has been operating well above capacity due to multiple shift-working and the use of imported clinker.

In 1998, Southern Province Cement produced 2.2 million tonnes of cement, down 8 per cent on 1997, and 2.8 million tonnes of clinker, a 3 per cent decline on the previous year. The feasibility of the new plant is partly based on assumptions of exports of up to 1 million t/y.

However, cement exports in 1998 only reached 121,000 tonnes, up from 49,000 tonnes in 1997, and clinker exports reached 109,000 tonnes when there had been none the previous year. Southern Province Cement has been strongly profitable, and this has allowed the company to pay a cash dividend of 30 per cent for 1994-96.

This was raised to 37.5 per cent in 1997 despite an increasingly adverse operating environment. Rising competition and overcapacity in the Saudi cement market is putting pressure on earnings. Net profits in 1997 fell by 20 per cent to SR 270.

6 million ($72.2 million) from SR 337.3 million ($90 million) mainly due to declining income and rising expenses. Trends in 1998 reflected the general pattern in the Saudi cement industry. Sales fell by 9 per cent to SR 249.

6 million ($67 million). Net income dropped to SR 226.4 million ($60 million). The dividend was cut for the second consecutive year.

Individuals	N/A
Institutions	N/A
Floating	N/A
Government	40%

Director	Abdullah Abu Melha
Director	Ahmed Al Aqeel
Director	Amer Bargan
Director	Dr. Hamad Sulaiman Al Bazae
Director	Nasser Al Nabit
Vice Chairman	Prince Abdullah Bin Musaed Bin Abdul Rahman
Chairman	Prince Khaled Bin Turki Al Turki Al Saud
Director	Prince Khalid Bin Fahed Bin Abdul Aziz
Director	Saad Al Arjani

	2004	2003	2002
Total Assets	2,097,732	2,170,775	2,086,343
Shareholder's Equity	1,603,591	1,584,096	1,531,012
NIAT	545,738	483,538	376,486
Dividends	294,000	231,000	420,000

	2004	2003	2002
Assets Growth	-3.37%	4.05%	8.15%
Earning Growth	12.86%	0.00%	-100.00%
ROaA	25.57%	22.72%	0.00%
ROaE	34.24%	61.05%	0.00%
No. Of Shares	21,000,000	21,000,000	21,000,000
EPS	25.99	23.03	0.00
EPS Growth	12.86%	0.00%	N/A
Payout Ratio	53.872	47.773	111.558

	Trailing
PE
PB
DVPS
Div Yield
EV
EV/Equity

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