Riyadh – Mubasher: NCB Capital said that Fawaz Abdulaziz Alhokair’s first-quarter results beat estimates.

The company achieved profits of SAR 79.4 million, which came higher than the investment firm’s expectations of SAR 54.9 million and consensus estimate of SAR 61.7 million, according to a report.

NCBC set the price target (PT) for the company at SAR 37.7 with a “Neutral” recommendation.

“Alhokair trades at a price-earnings ratio (P/E) of 16.7x, higher than the retail sector 2017E P/E of 13.8x,” the report added.

On Saturday, a royal decree was announced regarding returning allowances of governmental employees to their original levels.

The investment firm noted that the royal decree issued on Saturday would support discretionary spending, specifically on companies selling discretionary products.

However, the positive impact of this may be slightly negated by the announcement of employing only Saudi citizens at commercial centres which will lead to higher operational expenses for companies such as Alhokair, the report pinpointed.

On Saturday, the Saudi Capital Market Authority (CMA) has suspended the trading of Alhokair's shares after failing to announce its interim financial results for the fiscal period ended 31 March 2017.