Edita to increase exports to 14% of annual output: Chairman

CAIRO – 20 September 2017: Edita Food Industries plans to increase its exports to 14 percent of its total annual production, up from its current level of 6-7 percent, the company’s Chairman Hani Berzi told Al-Mal News Tuesday.

On the sidelines of the Euromoney Egypt Conference held in Cairo this week, Berzi said that the company targets opening new markets in Africa and some strategic markets in the Arab region in the coming period.

The company is planning to pump new investments in 2018, the chairman said, noting that they will be less than the LE 500 million that were injected last year.

Edita did not pump new investments in 2017 as it saw that last year’s investments were enough, Al-Mal reported.

Berzi said he expects there will be no price hikes for the company’s products in the coming period. He further noted that the company does not need a capital increase as the current cash flow is sufficient for covering its current investments.

The current high interest rates on borrowing reduce the return value on investment, Berzi said, adding that a solution must be hammered out for the higher borrowing costs.
Edita’s profits dropped 85.3 percent year-on-year to LE 7.05 million in the second quarter of 2017, compared to LE 48.09 million a year earlier.

The two-day Euromoney Egypt Conference kicked off on Monday with keynote speakers including Minister of Finance Amr el-Garhy and Minister of Trade Tarek Kabil.