Saudi’s Almarai gets final $210.6m bakery fire compensation

Almarai, the Gulf’s largest dairy company, said the final amount of compensation it would receive from its insurer after a fire at one of its bakeries last year was SAR 790m ($210.6m), according to a bourse filing on Sunday.

The Saudi Arabian company had already received SAR 250m from Arabian Shield Cooperative Insurance Co in late March, which it booked in its first-quarter results.

This March award would be offset against the amount agreed with the insurer on June 27, which was net of policy excesses, Almarai said in its statement.

It added that the settlement would have a neutral effect on its second-quarter earnings as the award would be used to offset “various partial assets write-off and goodwill amortisation”. It did not elaborate.

The fire in October 2014 caused “significant” damage at one of Almarai’s bakeries in Jeddah, it said at the time, although the firm noted in November that the fire should not have any “material adverse impact” on its finances.