Arabian Food Industries Company (Domty) announced on Sunday that it achieved an increase of 151% in its net profits in 2018, reaching EGP 154.6m, up from EGP 61.5m in 2017. It also cited the consolidated results for the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2018, revealing that Domty achieved a net profit of EGP 21.8m in Q4 of 2018, after achieving EGP 613.4m in sales. Domty stated that cheese products led the revenues of Q4 of 2018, achieving EGP 502.9m, followed by juices with EGP 68.2m, then Domty sandwiches with EGP 42.3m. Commenting on Q4's performance, Domty Vice Chairperson, Mohamed Omar El Damaty, said that in general, 2018 was one of the company's best years, declaring that Domty achieved the same sales levels in the white cheese category as those that were achieved prior to the pound floatation. "As for the juice category sales, we almost reached the same sales levels prior to the flotation. Hence, we increased our market share of white cheese despite the fierce competition," he explained. "The success of the Domty sandwich – the company's first product in the bakery sector – has had a positive impact on the future of the company and its ability to achieve sustainable growth rates by successfully penetrating the bakery and snacks category, which was the main focus of management in the past period and going forward in order to compensate for the predicted saturation consumption in the white cheese segment in the coming years," El Damaty stated. Furthermore, he revealed that in Q4 of 2018, the company succeeded in achieving a gross profit margin of 24.55%, driven by an improved sales mix. "Due to the company's plans to develop the commercial sector, Domty has decided to phase out a number of agents with a sales turnover of EGP 55m in Q4 of 2018 to further control the distribution network. This will be completed by phasing out another number of agents in Q1 of 2019, in line with the direction of the new CEO of the commercial sector," he declared. "As for 2019, the company believes that the restructuring of the distribution sector must be completed during the first half (H1) of the year, hence it may cost the company a temporary decline in sales in white cheese. We believe the situation will begin to stabilise in H2 of 2019 due to the restructuring of the distribution sector, and also through the increase in capacity of the bakery segment that will take place in H2 of the year," El Damaty elaborated.
