Egypt's Juhayna Food Industries , one of the country's largest dairy product and juice makers, has secured a LE500 million ($73 million) loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), it said on Tuesday. The company will use the money to finance an expansion of its dairy and juice factories, to produce new products and to upgrade its distribution network, it said in a statement. The EBRD started investing in Egypt in September 2012 and has invested a total of around 70 million euros ($96 million) in the country since then, excluding the Juhayna loan, Philip ter Woort, EBRD director for Egypt told Reuters. Juhayna, which counts among its clients EgyptAir, Air France and several large hotel chains, reported a 23 percent drop in its third-quarter net profit, hurt by muted sales growth and one-off foreign exchange losses. Juhayna, which operates seven factories across Egypt and employs more than 4,500 people, expects to begin production at its new Egyfood yogurt plant and a new dairy farm early next year. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/88861.aspx
