Dubai: Abu Dhabi’s Agthia Group – one of the largest F&B businesses in the region – recorded ‘normalised’ net profits of Dh117 million for 2020.
This excludes the Dh82 million in one-off gains the group recorded in the first nine months as part of a “strategic review”. Last year saw major changes within Agthia, which bought businesses in Kuwait and Jordan, and merged Al Foah, the world’s largest date processing company, into its fold.
16.5 fils
Dividend proposed by Agthia Board for 2020, which is a 10% increase on 2019. Dividends will now be paid semi-annuallyRevenues touched Dh2.06 billion, a 1.1 per cent gain over 2019. “We remained agile and resilient to counteract potential setbacks,” said Alan Smith, CEO. “We adopted a prudent policy to improve supply chain and delivery, and following a strategic review, we decided to move Agthia more into the consumer product space.
“Our recent M&As are an indication of this change.”
The consumer business – comprising its water, beverage and food brands – contributed 55 per cent of the Group’s top-line. The remaining came from the agri-business, which features its flour and animal feed produce.
* The agri-business brought in Dh935 million as revenues, from a 4.9 per cent year-on-year growth. This was driven by "outperformance" of the flour business.
* The water and beverage brands brought in Dh799 million, with the 5-gallon line registering growth at 7.8 per cent due to higher demand from homes. "All of Agthia’s water portfolio – Al Ain Water, Al Bayan and Alpin – maintained their market leadership at respective 27- and 24 per cent volume and value share, despite the 10.9 per cent decline in the overall market size of bottled water in the UAE during 2020 versus the previous year," the company said in a statement.
* The food segment recorded 32 per cent growth, bringing revenues of Dh327 million.
