Edita Food Industries Reports 1Q2021 Earnings

Edita Food Industries S.A.E. (EFID.CA on the Egyptian Exchange & EFID.L on the London Stock Exchange), a leader in the Egyptian packaged snack food market, announced today its results for the quarter ended 31 March 2021, recording revenues of EGP 1,166.3 million, up a solid 21.0% from the first quarter of last year.

Edita’s strong results were both price and volume-driven, with the company continuing the recovery recorded in the tail end of 2020 as Covid-19-related restrictions were eased. Throughout the quarter, the company witnessed a widespread recovery in consumption as economic activity continued to normalise coupled with rising demand for Edita’s products. In particular, Edita’s consolidated top-line was supported by its bakery, wafers and cakes segments, all of which recorded remarkable year-on-year growth for the quarter.

Edita’s gross profit recorded EGP 397.9 million in 1Q2021, up 18.6% from last year supported by strong top-line growth, and with a gross profit margin of 34.1%, largely stable versus 1Q2020. Net profit recorded EGP 80.7 million in 1Q2021, up 25.3% y-o-y with an associated margin of 6.9%.

In the first quarter of the year, Edita continued to roll out innovative products across several of its segments including its new Molto Mini Magnum, Freska Block, and HOHOs Extreme. The launches, which come as part of Edita’s strategy to better cater to its consumers’ evolving preferences and offer higher value-for-money propositions, were supported by targeted, multiplatform marketing and advertisement campaigns. The campaigns, which featured top-class celebrities, quickly went viral and were very successful in driving demand for the new lines. New and upsized product launches over the last twelve months continue to play an instrumental role in driving Edita’s robust market share gains across its cakes, bakery, wafers, and rusks segments.

In parallel, the company continued to invest in its production capabilities, with the installation of a new wafer production line completed in February 2021. Meanwhile, on the financing front, Edita continued to take advantage of the lower interest rate environment in Egypt and secured a new EGP 90 million medium term loan to finance the company’s capital expenditure plans in Egypt.

Finally, in Morocco, Edita installed its first production line at its new manufacturing facility in the country and expects to commence operations later this year.