Abu Dhabi: Agthia Group, a UAE-based food and beverage groups, reported on Wednesday a 26 per cent increase in net profit for the first nine months of the year compared to the same period last year, to reach Dh151 million.

The increase was driven primarily by higher sales, which jumped nine per cent during the period to reach Dh1.2 billion. Sales were boosted especially in the bottled water, and animal feed categories.

Meanwhile, the third quarter of the year saw a 38 per cent increase in net profit, and a 13 per cent jump in sales, according to Iqbal Hamzah, chief executive officer of Agthia.

“We are addressing areas of underperformance, and remain focused on driving the profitable growth of core businesses while diversifying our product portfolio and widening our distribution reach,” he said.

Speaking to Gulf News, Hamzah said that such expansion of distribution will include widening their reach particularly in the northern emirates, as well as entering the Saudi market in the second half of 2015.

“The plan for 2015 in terms of new markets is Saudi Arabia with selected products because not all of our products can travel. We’ll also be expanding our distribution reach in Turkey with Alpin bottled water, and we’re looking at Egypt to enter the retail market. If the [Egyptian market] is feasible, we will enter it in 2016,” he said.

The Agri Business Division, which manufactures and distributes Grand Mills flour and Agrivita animal feed products, recorded net sales of Dh782.3 million in the first nine months of the year. The figure marks a nine per cent increase of the same period in 2013.

Net profit for the division reached Dh156.1 million — up 19 per cent year-on-year.

Meanwhile, the Consumer Business Division, which produces and distributes products like Al Ain Mineral Water, Yoplait dairy, and Capri-Sun juices, saw a 10 per cent increase in net profit to Dh40 million. Net sales for the first nine months were Dh450 million — also up 10 per cent over the previous year.

Distribution plans for the UAE and GCC were delayed due to high domestic demand in Turkey, where sales doubled compared to the previous year.

Discussing the outlook, Hamzah said: “Our priorities for 2015 are to drive profitable growth of our core business, launch new products in the existing categories … and enhance in-store performance.”

He added that there are no plans to add new product categories.