The government is reported to have made payments of SAR40bn (USD10.7bn) that it owed to private sector companies, local newspaper, Arab News, cited, quoting Fahad Al-Hammadi, Chief of the National Contractors’ Committee at the Council of Saudi Chambers. These amounts paid are estimated to represent 25% of the amounts owed to contractors, which is expected to grow to 80% before year-end, according to Al-Hammadi.     The above news is positive, in our view, with Al-Khodari being the main beneficiary. We note, however, that, according to feedback we are getting from management, challenges continue within the certification phase, whereby delays in the process of approving the bills by the government and the consultants continue. Also, the process of progressing those bills into pay orders from the respective ministries to the Ministry of Finance continue to be slow. A resolution of those, where the bulk of Al-Khodari’s receivables are, would result in a bigger relief to the company’s receivable issue. We also note that for Al-Khodari, our biggest concern continue to be the weak inflow of awards, which does not reflect positively on the outlook of the company’s operating performance in the medium term. (Reuters, Mai Attia, Sara Boutros)