Riyadh – Mubasher: Al Rajhi Capital has set the target prices (TP) of six Saudi cement companies including  Southern Province Cement Company (SPCC), Arabian Cement, Yamama Cement, Saudi Cement Co, Yanbu Cement Company, and Qassim Cement Co.

The TPs of SPCC, Arabian, and Yamama, were set at SAR 37, SAR 27, and SAR 17, respectively, with underweight, overweight, and neutral recommendations, according to a report released by Al Rajhi.

Meanwhile, the TPs of Saudi, Yanbu, and Qassim were set at SAR 55, SAR 27, and SAR 41, respectively.

Al Rajhi Capital gave an underweight recommendation for Saudi and neutral recommendation for both Yanbu and Qassim.

Qassim posted a 2% year-on-year profit drop in the first quarter of 2019.

Yanbu reported an 81.2% year-on-year surge in profits during the first three months of the year. 

Saudi Cement reported a 6.9% year-on-year net profit decrease in Q1-19. 

Despite challenges faced the Saudi cement sector during the third quarter, average local sales grew in the first three months of 2019, the report found.

Exports in the sector soared 64% year-on-year to 2.5 million tonnes in Q1-19, Al Rajhi’s data showed.

The report expected that demand on cement in the Saudi kingdom would slash in the coming two sectors duo to many factors including the Holy Month of Ramadan and Eid Al-Fitr vacation.

Yamama reported a 196.2% year-on-year surge in profits during the first quarter of 2019.

Arabian Cement reported net profits of SAR 37.1 million in Q1-19, against SAR 6.1 million in net losses in Q1-18.

SPCC’s net profits, after zakat and taxes, amounted to SAR 120 million in Q1-19, compared to SAR 102 million in the year-ago period.