Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi Arabian Fertilisers Company’s (SAFCO) results for the first quarter of 2017 beat the estimates of SAR 353 million, Albilad Capital said.

The research firm set the fair value (FV) of SAFCO at SAR 64.5, with a “Neutral” recommendation based on lower fertiliser prices and global supply and demand expectations for 2017.

Albilad Capital expected that the stock would trade at a price-earnings (P/E) ratio of 21.8x in 2017 and a price-book value (P/BV) ratio of 4.03x and to post net income of SAR 1.32 billion in 2017.

“The International Fertiliser Association (IFA) forecast a potential surplus of 8% during the next couple years, which will weigh on fertiliser prices,” the report added.

SAFCO’s net profits hiked 51.8% year-on-year to SAR 423.4 million in Q-17 from SAR 279 million.