Edita Food Industries is planning expansion into new markets, including sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, as the company seeks to boost sales and revenues in 2018, Menna Shams El Din, investor relations & business development manager, told Daily News Egypt. "We are looking to boost revenues from overseas markets by almost 25% by 2025," she highlighted. The company is currently studying entering markets in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, Shams El Din concluded. A recent report by Bloomberg quoted Hani Berzi, chairperson and managing director, as saying the company is looking to expand abroad to control local currency fluctuations. The Cairo-based confectioner aims at generating 25% of revenues from abroad by 2025, Berzi confirmed. The producer of Twinkies in the North African nation will also invest EGP 120m ($6.8m) this year, mainly on maintenance, he pointed out. "Edita will decide whether to proceed with the second phase of its newly-opened EO8 factory in 2019 or not," he noted. Last month, the company announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Groupe Dislog to create a subsidiary in Morocco with an initial investment of $10m. Edita will own 51% of the new joint venture company, according to a statement. The company will work on distributing the products of the Egyptian manufacturer in the Moroccan market, as per the statement. Edita Food Industries' consolidated financial results showed a 43% year-over-year increase in profits in the third quarter (Q3) of 2017 due to sales growth. Edita's profits rose to EGP 74.11m in Q3 2017, from EGP 51.75m in Q3 2016. Sales went up to EGP 832.18m in Q3 2017, compared to EGP 612.96m in the same period of 2016. The company said that the quarter saw strong revenue growth after consumers had adjusted to the recent inflationary pressures and have become increasingly accepting of Edita's portfolio optimisation. Meanwhile, Edita's profits dropped to reach EGP 129.004m in the first nine months of last year, versus EGP 139.016m in the year prior, according to the company's statement. As for stand-alone results, Edita's profits declined in the first three quarters of 2017, reaching EGP 55.5m, compared to EGP 76.14m in the year prior. Edita previously announced a plunge in profits to EGP 7.05m in Q2 2017, compared to EGP 48.09m in Q2 2016, whereas sales had increased to EGP 611.6m in Q2 2017, versus EGP 550.2m in the same quarter last year.
