Businesses acquired by UAE-based Agthia accounted for more than one third of its revenue last year, with the food company planning to deploy a further Dh1.5 billion ($408 million) on new acquisitions, according to its chief executive.
Agthia, which is owned by Abu Dhabi’s holding company ADQ, reported more than Dh3bn in revenue last year on the back of new acquisitions. Companies added to its portfolio include the world’s largest date processing and packaging company Al Foah, Kuwait’s Al Faysal Bakery and Sweets, Jordan’s Nabil Foods, Egypt-based meat processor Ismailia Investments, also known as Atyab, and snacks maker BMB Group.
“On a full-year basis … just over Dh1bn [in revenue] came from the new acquisitions,” Alan Smith told The National. “The profitability side of things [has] really gone strong … those new businesses [are] commanding high margins and being accretive for the company.”
The company’s group assets more than doubled annually to Dh6.4bn at the end of 2021 due to the consolidation of the new assets into Agthia’s business. Profit for the full year surged more than six-fold to Dh216m.
The Abu Dhabi-listed company will continue to look for new acquisitions to boost its portfolio and expand its operations in 2022, Mr Smith said. The company has a “fire power” of Dh1.5bn to buy new companies in the Middle East and Africa and in Pakistan, but it “really depends on whether they meet the criteria that we set out in terms of being accretive, being at the right price, being in the right categories and in the right markets", he said.
"We continue to look at opportunities for 2022.”
The value of mergers and acquisitions in the Mena region surged 57 per cent to $109.1bn last year as the region's economies recovered from the coronavirus pandemic.
The total number of M&A deals also jumped 40 per cent annually to 1,141, the highest annual total recorded since 1980, according to a report by Refinitiv.
“We continue to develop the pipeline, we continue to look at ideas, but as with any M&A agenda, it also depends on the targets and the valuations. We need to make sure that we're bringing value to the company and to our shareholders,” Mr Smith said.
Agthia manufactures, distributes and markets a range of food and beverage products, including popular regional brands such as Al Ain Water and Al Foah dates. The company’s assets are located in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Egypt, Turkey and Jordan.
The company is transforming its operations under a new five-year growth strategy in its push to become the region's top food and beverage company by 2025. The strategy is built on three strategic pillars: growth, efficiency and developing capability, Agthia said last year.
“If we reflect on where we are on that five-year strategy, at the end of the first year, I think we are very happy that we have really executed against the indications that the strategy ... set down,” Mr Smith said.
Progress has been "good" on segments including acquisitions, capability, efficiency and cost savings.
Agthia is also looking to save Dh200m through “synergy extraction as well as simplification of its existing and acquired businesses”, said Mr Smith. “We are already ahead of that agenda and achieved 36 per cent of our target in the first year.”
The company has not made any decision in terms of raising corporate finance, “but we are constantly looking at the most efficient ways of doing that”, he said, without divulging further details.
List of alleged parties
May 12, 2020: PM and his wife Carrie attend 'work meeting' with at least 17 staff
May 20, 2020: They attend 'bring your own booze party'
Nov 27, 2020: PM gives speech at leaving party for his staff
Dec 10, 2020: Staff party held by then-education secretary Gavin Williamson
Dec 13, 2020: PM and his wife throw a party
Dec 14, 2020: London mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey holds staff event at Conservative Party headquarters
Dec 15, 2020: PM takes part in a staff quiz
Dec 18, 2020: Downing Street Christmas party
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Other workplace saving schemes
- The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
- Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
- National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
- In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
- Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
Mobile phone packages comparison
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Who is Tim-Berners Lee?
Sir Tim Berners-Lee was born in London in a household of mathematicians and computer scientists. Both his mother, Mary Lee, and father, Conway, were early computer scientists who worked on the Ferranti 1 - the world's first commercially-available, general purpose digital computer. Sir Tim studied Physics at the University of Oxford and held a series of roles developing code and building software before moving to Switzerland to work for Cern, the European Particle Physics laboratory. He developed the worldwide web code as a side project in 1989 as a global information-sharing system. After releasing the first web code in 1991, Cern made it open and free for all to use. Sir Tim now campaigns for initiatives to make sure the web remains open and accessible to all.
The biog
Nickname: Mama Nadia to children, staff and parents
Education: Bachelors degree in English Literature with Social work from UAE University
As a child: Kept sweets on the window sill for workers, set aside money to pay for education of needy families
Holidays: Spends most of her days off at Senses often with her family who describe the centre as part of their life too
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
PROFILE OF SWVL
Started: April 2017
Founders: Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport
Size: 450 employees
Investment: approximately $80 million
Investors include: Dubai’s Beco Capital, US’s Endeavor Catalyst, China’s MSA, Egypt’s Sawari Ventures, Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures, Property Finder CEO Michael Lahyani
UK’s AI plan
- AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
- £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
- £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
- £250m to train new AI models
FIXTURES
All kick-off times UAE ( 4 GMT)
Brackets denote aggregate score
Tuesday:
Roma (1) v Shakhtar Donetsk (2), 11.45pm
Manchester United (0) v Sevilla (0), 11.45pm
Wednesday:
Besiktas (0) v Bayern Munich (5), 9pm
Barcelona (1) v Chelsea (1), 11.45pm
PREMIER LEAGUE FIXTURES
Saturday (UAE kick-off times)
Watford v Leicester City (3.30pm)
Brighton v Arsenal (6pm)
West Ham v Wolves (8.30pm)
Bournemouth v Crystal Palace (10.45pm)
Sunday
Newcastle United v Sheffield United (5pm)
Aston Villa v Chelsea (7.15pm)
Everton v Liverpool (10pm)
Monday
Manchester City v Burnley (11pm)
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Gulf Under 19s final
Dubai College A 50-12 Dubai College B
Crops that could be introduced to the UAE
1: Quinoa
2. Bathua
3. Amaranth
4. Pearl and finger millet
5. Sorghum
In 2018, the ICRC received 27,756 trace requests in the Middle East alone. The global total was 45,507.
There are 139,018 global trace requests that have not been resolved yet, 55,672 of these are in the Middle East region.
More than 540,000 individuals approached the ICRC in the Middle East asking to be reunited with missing loved ones in 2018.
The total figure for the entire world was 654,000 in 2018.
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'Jurassic%20World%20Dominion'
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Arabian Gulf League fixtures:
Friday:
- Emirates v Hatta, 5.15pm
- Al Wahda v Al Dhafra, 5.25pm
- Al Ain v Shabab Al Ahli Dubai, 8.15pm
Saturday:
- Dibba v Ajman, 5.15pm
- Sharjah v Al Wasl, 5.20pm
- Al Jazira v Al Nasr, 8.15pm
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
