By: ICN Bureau
Last updated : April 12, 2025 11:22 am
Achieving the highest standalone credit rating in the chemical industry boosts the company’s efforts in dealing with the cyclical nature of the business
SABIC strengthened its strategic investments to meet prevailing market challenges, particularly overcapacity and pricing pressures in key regions in 2024. The company focussed during 2024 on managing its business portfolio and ensuring the efficiency of capital allocation, Khalid Al-Dabbagh, Chairman, SABIC, said at its Ordinary Annual General Meeting in Riyadh on April 9. He further reaffirmed the company’s commitment to maintaining its competitive advantages.
Al-Dabbagh stressed that SABIC will continue to pursue sustainable growth to maximize shareholder value, with strong balance sheet, disciplined governance, and robust portfolio management strategy. He noted that achieving the highest standalone credit rating in the chemical industry boosts the company’s efforts in dealing with the cyclical nature of the business while maintaining capital discipline. He also touched on the company’s efforts to further build customer confidence and help in their success. He pointed out to the strength of the SABIC brand, maintaining its position as the second most valuable brand in the chemical industry with an increased brand value of US$ 4.9 billion.
Abdulrahman Al-Fageeh, SABIC CEO, spoke about SABIC's success in achieving profitability due to its carefully planned strategies, despite the significant challenges faced by the global chemical sector in 2024, including geopolitical uncertainties, changing consumer demands, and sustainability and decarbonization regulations.
Al-Fageeh highlighted the company’s financial performance during 2024, including revenues of SAR 140.0 billion (US$ 37.3 billion), EBIDTA of SAR 19.5 billion (US$ 5.2 billion), in addition to the value resulting from synergies with Saudi Aramco of a cumulative value of SAR 9.66 billion (US$ 2.57 billion) since Saudi Aramco acquired 70% of SABIC shares in June 2020. Of this amount, SAR 3.04 billion (US$ 0.81 billion) was in 2024 alone.
The CEO also highlighted the sale of some non-core assets, including Hadeed and the Functional Forms business, specialized in producing plastic sheets and films, as well as the completion of the sale of SABIC's stake in Aluminum Bahrain (Alba). These strategic moves helped the company optimize capital reallocation, enhance capital efficiency, and increase long-term value creation.
Al-Fageeh addressed the ambitions for 2025 and beyond. They include bridging emerging and developed markets, focusing on resilience, leadership, and transformation, and laying emphasis on economic diversification and sustainable growth to develop the chemicals sector as aligned with Saudi Vision 2030. He emphasized that trust and joint cooperation is what drives SABIC’s success toward fulfilling its vision to be the preferred world leader in chemicals.