City Cement has revealed that the breakdown caused by a technical failure at its second mill could lead to it losing sales of up to $13.3m (SR: 50m).
In a statement to the Saudi stock exchange yesterday, the firm said that it could take up to 3-4 months before the mill is repaired, even though it is still continuing to produce clinker which will be stored until the mill comes back on line.
The firm, which raised just over $250m by selling half of its shares through a stockmarket flotation in October, currently operates two mills but plans to use the proceeds from its float on developing a third.
It said that it expects to begin development of the third mill during the first quarter of next year.
It added that it was continuing to study ways of reducing the amount of time that the second mill is out of action with a view to bringing it back online quickly. It stopped working on October 24.