#Saudi Aramco Springs No Surprises at Gentle First Results Call - Bloomberg

Saudi Aramco Springs No Surprises at Gentle First Results Call - Bloomberg:

Saudi Aramco’s senior executives can breathe a collective sigh of relief after the company’s first-ever earnings call with investors. The half-hour event was a pretty gentle affair with few questions that were likely to embarrass a company with a potentially lucrative share sale in the works.

Finance chief Khalid Al-Dabbagh took questions from nine participants -- some representing banks that had been advising on the sale -- and managed to say little that was new, without at any point appearing to stonewall his questioners. His performance wasn’t much different from that of executives from most large companies presenting their results, but those listening in will have gone away knowing little more about Aramco’s plans or prospects than they did before.

The questioners never really sought to dig too deeply into the company’s figures, strategy or plans for the future. The answers were either very general, or restatements of things that were already known. Perhaps that reflects the fact that Aramco remains the world’s most profitable company and biggest oil producer. Or maybe that nobody on the call wanted to be seen as difficult with that initial public offering looming.