Savola Group, Saudi Arabia's largest food products company, reported a 47 per cent fall in third-quarter net profit on Monday, missing analysts' forecasts.

Net earnings in the three months to September 30 were SR371.6 million ($99.1 million) compared to SR701.4 million in the same period a year earlier, it said in a bourse statement.

Four analysts had forecast on average Savola would make a quarterly net profit of SR410.7 million, while the company's forecast for the quarter, released in July, was SR355 million.

The company, a producer of cooking oil, sugar and other foodstuffs, had warned in July its earnings for the rest of the year would be hit by difficult economic conditions in the countries where it operated, oversupply in commodities and competition in its home market.-Reuters