UAE’s Agthia Posts 38% H1 Profit Rise

UAE-based food and beverage group Agthia announced that net profit during the first half of the year increased 38 per cent year-on-year to reach Dhs56 million.

The company, whose products include Al Ain bottled water, Capri-Sun juices, Chiquita juices and Yoplait dairy products, said that net sales during the period rose to Dhs642 million, a 15 per cent year-on-year increase.

Agthia’s Consumer Business division saw a net sales growth of 19 per cent year-on-year while the Agri Business division sales grew by 13 per cent during the first half of 2012.

“The growth was driven by continued strong performance of Agthia’s core businesses of bottled water, flour and animal feed,” the company said in a statement.

Rashed Mubarak Al Hajeri, chairman of Agthia Group said: “The commodity market volatility and regional unrest are certainly challenging, yet we are progressing on our long term strategy and we are looking forward to a promising second half as well.”

Going ahead, Agthia is planning to aggressively drive distribution of its recently launched Yoplait fresh dairy products and Chiquita natural juices.

In Turkey, the company is planning to rebrand the recently acquired spring water company and expand regional distribution. It’s also planning to launch natural spring drinking water in the UAE and GCC.

The company’s new frozen baked product launch is planned for second half of 2013 and the poultry feed production capacity expansion is on track for completion in Q4, 2012, the statement said.

“During the first of half of this year, we have focused on both growing our core businesses while driving penetration and distribution of our recently launched brands,” said Ilias Assimakopoulos, CEO of Agthia.

“Our focus for the remainder of the year will be to continue the growth momentum and consolidating the newly introduced products, driving the core businesses, expanding geographically while addressing the challenge of higher input cost by pursuing cost saving initiatives. We are optimistic and expect another year of good business performance in 2012.”