Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) kept investors guessing if it would pay a dividend for the year after third-quarter profit halved.

Chief executive Mohamed Al Mady said that with uncertainty over recovery in its key US market, the direction of petrochemical prices was unpredictable despite a recent firming in oil prices and a pickup in demand from Asia, according to a report in our sister newspaper Gulf Daily News.

Sabic said net profit fell to 3.6 billion Saudi riyals ($960 million) in the quarter from 7.24 billion riyals a year earlier.

The drop came on the back of an annual 39.2 per cent fall in Sabic’s turnover, though volume sales rose 4 per cent to 11.6 million tonnes.