Figures Set Saudi Aramco as World’s Most Profitable Company

By: Yassmine ElSayed

CAIRO, Apr. 2 (SEE) – Official figures revealed that Saudi Aramco company is by far the most profitable company in the world.

According to financial data disclosed by the state-run oil giant in Saudi Arabia, the company made a whopping $111 billion in 2018.

By comparison, Apple made $59.53 billion in fiscal 2018. Saudi Aramco also made more money than J.P. Morgan Chase, Google-parent Alphabet, Facebook and Exxon Mobil combined. Put together, those companies made nearly $106 billion in 2018, according to FactSet.

Saudi Aramco made its financial information available in a prospectus for a $10 billion bond sale, which the company plans to use to finance a nearly $70 billion stake in Saudi Arabia’s petrochemicals company, CNBC reported.

However, despite Aramco’s massive earnings, the company did not receive the top credit rating from agencies like Moody’s since its heavy dependence on the country’s economy. “Credit linkages to the government of Saudi Arabia (A1 stable; A1 foreign currency ceiling) are significant, and result in our decision to constrain Aramco’s rating to that of the government,” Rehan Akbar, senior credit officer at Moody’s, said in a note.

“While there is a clear track record of Aramco having been run as a commercially independent company, the government’s budget is highly reliant upon contributions from Aramco in the form of royalties, taxes and pidends,” Akbar added.

The oil giant is expected to use the bond to help finance its acquisition of a stake in SABIC, the world’s fourth-largest petrochemicals maker, in a deal announced last week worth $69.1 billion. The kingdom’s oil minister has said the bond would be around $10 billion in size.