Abu Dhabi – Mubasher: Agthia Group on Sunday reported robust results for the first nine months of 2018 and the third quarter of the year.
A leading UAE firm in the food and beverage sector, Agthia’s net profit grew 9% on a like-for-like basis, however, on a stand year-on-year basis, net profit fell 4% to AED 159 million ($43.30 million) between January and September from AED 164.7 million ($44.85 million) a year ago, while revenues hit AED 1.49 billion.
The company attributed the nine-month fall to a 5% decline in revenues as well as 59% drop in other revenues to AED 8.4 million from AED 20.4 million in the first nine months of 2017.
Gross profit margin was at a record high of 34.7%, Agthia said in a filing to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), citing higher volumes, a better product mix, and “unwavering cost optimisation across the Group.”
In Q3-18, Agthia’s profits grew 6.45% to AED 49.5 million from AED 46.5 million in the same period of 2017.
The Abu Dhabi-based and listed Group’s consumer business sector, which comprises water, beverage and food categories, contributed 55% of the nine-month revenues.
Commenting on Agthia’s performance, Group CEO Tariq Ahmed Al Wahedi noted that a rise in sales volumes, enhanced category and product mix, as well as greater efficiencies were the top contributors to Agthia’s strong results in Q3-18.
“Agthia’s most profitable business, bottled water, demonstrated its ability to withstand the highly competitive market promotions while our 5-Gallon water displayed even stronger double-digit volume growth. Food category continued its remarkable top and bottom line growth, with net revenues increasing by 13% to reach AED 148 million,” Al Wahedi added.
During the course of the first nine months of 2018, Agthia began producing Al Ain Water in Kuwait through its joint venture United Khaleeji Water Co.
“Al Ain Water continued volume and value market share leadership in the UAE while in Saudi Arabia and Turkey, shipped volumes registered double-digit quarter-on-quarter growth,” Agthia revealed.
Agthia Group’s CEO said that his company currently maintains a positive outlook in terms of its profit targets for 2018 even though its “top line remains under pressure against a backdrop of heavily promoted market and declining category sizes.”
Despite that, Agthia will continue to innovate and enrich its portfolio so as to address the market’s evolving and growing needs, Al Wahedi stated, highlighting that this process will eventually support the company’s profitable growth and expansion strategy.
Agthia last reported a 7.3% net profit fall to AED 61 million in Q2-18 from AED 65.8 million in the same period of 2017.
