Agthia Group CEO says company will continue to ‘explore strategic investment opportunities’ during 2022
UAE-based food major Agthia Group is planning further acquisitions after announcing a 49 percent jump in its net revenue to AED3.07 billion for 2021.
Boosted by the consolidation and integration of key acquisitions into the business, the company said its net profit stood at AED216 million compared to AED34 million in the previous year, in which AED83 million of one-off costs were incurred as a result of a strategic review of the company’s balance sheet.
The substantial improvement to net income was underpinned by the addition of Al Foah, Al Faysal Bakery, Nabil Foods and Atyab alongside key cost optimisation initiatives and pricing that mitigated the impact of higher raw material costs and additional M&A related fees.
Khalifa Sultan Al Suwaidi, chairman of Agthia Group, said: “Agthia’s financial results for 2021 showcased a strong year for the business amid ongoing market volatility and challenging economic headwinds as the world recovers from Covid-19 and faces inflation.
“Despite these challenges, we continued our disciplined and methodical execution of the growth strategy we outlined for Agthia. Our results for 2021 are a testament to the soundness of our strategy and the quality of its execution.”
He added: “In 2022, we look forward to delivering further growth and value for our shareholders as we accelerate the growth potential of our new businesses and add new value accretive platforms to our existing businesses.”
Alan Smith, CEO of Agthia Group, said: “Our M&A activity throughout 2021 showcases our ongoing commitment to evolving the business into growth accretive consumer goods categories with the acquisition and consolidation of four new entities across the protein and snacking segments, contributing a healthy AED1.07 billion to sales.
“We will continue to explore strategic investment opportunities while working on fully realising integration benefits from the strong businesses acquired over the past year. Our track record for cost optimisation was sustained throughout the year, underpinned by complementary additions to our business, as we move towards our target of AED200 million productivity improvement by 2025.”
Agthia Group’s assets are located in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Egypt, Turkey and Jordan, with more than 8,200 employees.