Maaden's Q3 net profit falls 23.7% as phosphate costs erode margins
Revenue rose 11.3%, but record sulfur prices, logistics costs and missing ammonia export sales dragged phosphate margins and cut operating profit 46.5%.
Saudi Arabian Mining Company, known as Maaden, posted third-quarter net profit of $448.6 million (SAR 1.7 billion), down 23.7% from a year earlier, as cost inflation in its phosphate arm offset revenue growth elsewhere in the group.
Revenue rose 11.3% to $2.97 billion (SAR 11.1 billion) from $2.67 billion (SAR 10.01 billion) a year earlier. Higher commodity prices across the business units and larger gold sales volumes drove the increase.
Profitability moved the other way. Gross profit fell 29.5% to $743.8 million (SAR 2.8 billion) from $1.1 billion (SAR 3.96 billion), a decline the company tied to higher costs in the phosphate business. Operating profit dropped 46.5% to $418.6 million (SAR 1.6 billion) from $783 million (SAR 2.9 billion). Total comprehensive income attributable to shareholders came in at $443.3 million (SAR 1.7 billion), 31.3% below the $645.7 million (SAR 2.4 billion) booked a year earlier.
Phosphate output recovers, costs do not
Granulated phosphate production returned to 1.6 million tons in the quarter. The sulfur shortages that constrained the second quarter had largely eased by the third.
Record sulfur prices, heavier logistics bills and the absence of ammonia export sales still weighed on the segment, absorbing part of the gain from stronger commodity pricing and gold volumes.
CEO Bob Wilt said the Gold and Growth Metals and Aluminum business units both delivered record financial performance in the quarter. He said the phosphate team worked through a complex situation and restored granulated production to levels comparable with last year.
Shares slip as $1 billion financing beds in
Shares slipped 0.5% to $15.4 (SAR 57.95) by 11:45 am Arabia Standard Time on Monday, leaving Maaden with a market capitalization of roughly $60 billion (SAR 226.71 billion).
In August the company raised $1 billion through its first international syndicated term loan and revolving credit facilities. The package split into a $500 million term loan for growth projects and general corporate purposes and a $500 million revolver built to add funding flexibility. Lenders came from the US, Canada, Europe, China and Japan.
Maaden is the largest holding in the Public Investment Fund's portfolio of Saudi-listed companies, a stake worth $38.2 billion as of July 9, 2026, and it ranked fifth on a 2026 list of the 100 most valuable companies in the Middle East. The phosphate cost swing therefore lands on a company whose earnings feed straight into the kingdom's diversification balance sheet. Volume, not margin, did the work this quarter.
