Egypt’s Qalaa Holdings, one of the country’s largest investment companies, reported on Sunday a 27 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenues for 2021.
Revenues rose to 45.8 billion Egyptian pounds ($2.5 million) for the year ended 31 December 2021 driven by successful operational strategies across all subsidiaries along with a global rally in commodity prices and improved refining margins at Egyptian Refining Company (ERC).
ERC was a key driver behind the consolidated revenue growth, contributing around 62 percent to Qalaa’s total revenues of 45.826 million pounds in the year.
At Qalaa’s bottom-line, the Group booked a net loss of 2.3 billion pounds in 2021 compared to a net loss of 2.6 billion pounds last year.
Excluding ERC, Qalaa’s revenues grew 20 percent year-on-year to 17.3 billion pounds in 2021, primarily driven by improved performances at TAQA Arabia and National Printing. TAQA Arabia’s revenue rose 15 percent year-on-year during the year to 9.1 billion pounds, reflecting improved market conditions. The year witnessed higher power distribution volumes by TAQA Power, CNG station expansions at TAQA Gas as well as increased fuel and lubes revenues at TAQA Marketing, a Qalaa statement read.
National Printing delivered a 46 percent year-on-year top line increase in 2021 as it reaped the rewards of its new El Baddar state-of-the-art facility. In addition, improved export volumes and an optimised pricing strategy at Uniboard reflected positively on National Printing’s results during 2021.
Dina Farms’ revenues surged 17 percent year-on-year to 835.0 million pounds in 2021, as facility enhancement projects continued to yield improved operations across its segments. ASCOM delivered 14 percent year-on-year top-line growth in 2021 supported by rising prices and increased export volumes at ACCM.
Against the tide
“The Group delivered an impressive 27% year-on-year top line growth amidst an uncertain operating environment, thanks to our robust investment and growth strategies coupled with operational efficiency tactics that yielded positive results across Qalaa’s businesses.” said Qalaa’s chairman and founder Ahmed Heikal.
Ahmed Heikal, chairman of Qalaa Holdings
“Almost halfway into the new year, our portfolio companies are better equipped to face and adapt to the seismic shifts in the global economy and a rapidly changing operating environment. The world today is at a crossroad as the tide shifts from an era of globalisation to a new trend of increasing protectionism and a political warming toward deglobalisation.
Heading into this new phase, Heikal said the Group is witnessing “substantial global inflationary pressures”, expecting this trend “to persist for multiple quarters.”
“Consequently, central banks around the world are quickly tapering quantitative easing and passing through interest rate hikes following several years of record low interest rates. This has put pressure on currencies and debt levels in emerging markets.
“Nonetheless, I am confident in Qalaa’s ability to navigate these waters especially as inflationary pressures shift pricing power to producers across all sectors, and as local manufacturing gains more support. Additionally, our platforms with a high percentage of local inputs and resources or high volumes of export sales will benefit from a strong competitive advantage in this environment,”
Hisham El-Khazindar, Qalaa Holdings Co-Founder and Managing Director
Seeking Cleaner Energy
Meanwhile, Hisham El-Khazindar, Qalaa’s co-founder and managing director, said: “Qalaa’s different platforms leveraged prevalent macroeconomic trends along with management’s prudent strategies to deliver stellar performances during the year,”
“we continued to capitalise on increasing demand for cleaner energy with growing CNG expansions and a strengthening position in the solar and renewable market. Meanwhile at Dina Farms, a beacon of local agriculture and food production, we are reaping the benefits from extensive facility enhancements and demonstrating the potential of Egypt’s local agricultural and food processing sectors.
“Finally, at our export-driven platforms, including ASCOM and National Printing, we continued to leverage our local cost advantage and grow export volumes, once again demonstrating the merits of developing world-class local production capabilities.” El-Khazindar concluded.
