Yanbu Cement Co, Saudi Arabia’s fourth-largest cement maker by market value, posted a 25 per cent rise in first-quarter net profits, beating an analyst’s forecast.  
 
The company made SAR151.6m (US$40.4m) in the three months to March 31, up from SAR121.2m in the same period in 2006, Yanbu said in a statement on the bourse website.  
 
The earnings were higher than the SAR133.40m profit forecast of Kuwait-based investment bank Global Investment House in a Reuters survey last month.   
 
Yanbu’s operating profit reached SAR145.4m in the three-month period, up 19.4 per cent over the first quarter of 2006, Yanbu said.  
 
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