Almarai net income for Q1 grows 4.7% in Saudi Arabia

Almarai said it will continue to rejuvenate its product portfolio to offer the best choice and value to its consumers.
For the first quarter of 2017, Almarai’s net revenue grew by 4.7 percent in Saudi Arabia and by 2.1 percent in the other GCC countries. This demonstrates the resilience of the Almarai business despite a persistent challenging environment.
But the total net sales figure has been negatively impacted in Egypt by the devaluation of the Egyptian pound, and the significant decline in exports to Iraq due to border closures. As a result the total group net revenue grew slightly by 0.3 percent to SR3,384 million ($902 million).
Almarai’s net income quarterly performance was stronger since net income attributable to shareholders grew by 13.7 percent quarter-to-quarter to SR328.3 million. The strong performance of the core businesses of dairy, juice, food and bakery in the GCC, as well as the significant reduction in the poultry business unit loss account for this result. Favorable commodities costs, as well as, the multiple cost control initiatives and operational efficiency programs already initiated last year, continued to help improve the operating profit by +1.4 percent..
The free cash flow, which reached a negative level of — SR290 million for the quarter, improved by SR736 million from last year thanks to a stronger operating cash flow, +SR256 million, combined with lower capital investments -SR480 million.
Almarai said it will continue to focus on cost management without compromising its product quality.The company will continue to rejuvenate its product portfolio to offer the best choice and value to its consumers.

Source: Arab News