Arabian Cement Company (ACC) registered a 5.6% year-on-year decline in its net profit for the nine months through September 2010 to SAR 244.6m (US$65.2m), compared to SAR 259.2m  a year ago.

The decrease was chiefly due to a decline in average sales prices and despite the higher sales during the nine-month period, ACC said without giving exact figures.

The earnings per share (EPS) stood at SAR 3.06, down from SAR3.24.

The operating profit also decreased in the first nine months of 2010 -- to SAR 245.2m from SAR268.6m a year earlier.

By contrast, for the third quarter of 2010, the company registered an increase in net profit to SAR81.7m from SAR 72.8m in the same period last year.