Edita Food Industries inaugurates E08 factory with the commissioning of its new wafer line; launches new Freska offering

Cairo, 16 July 2017

Edita Food Industries S.A.E. (EFID.CA on the Egyptian Exchange and EFIFq.L on the London Stock Exchange), a leader in the Egyptian packaged snack food market, announced today the inauguration of its E08 factory in 6th of October City’s Polaris Al-Zamil district and the commissioning of the company’s new wafer line. The new E08 facility is Edita’s 5th factory with a total built-up area of 36,000 sqm and is set to house around 11 new production lines. The factory will deploy state-of-the-art technology and is in compliance with international quality and safety standards, including HACCP, ISO 22000, ISO 9001, and ISO 18001.

Phase one of E08 is now complete — set to house five new lines on a built-up area of 22,000 sqm — with the new 3.3 thousand tons per annum wafer line being the first to be installed at the facility. Edita is currently installing a new cake line at the facility with commercial production scheduled for August 2017.

Meanwhile, start of commercial production of the new wafer line was marked with the launch of Freska Fingers, an uncoated wafer offering — serving the bulk of market demand — available in hazelnut, halwa and chocolate flavors and priced at EGP 3 per pack. Freska is Edita’s anchor brand in the wafer segment and positioned as an attractive offering in this fast growing market. In 1Q17, the wafer segment’s contribution to Edita’s total revenues grew to 6% up from 5% in 1Q16. The launch follows Edita’s rebranding campaign for its Freska line which completely overhauled the wafer’s packaging to capture a larger share of the market. In that regard, Edita has been successfully growing its share of the wafer market, capturing 9.2% as of April 2017 versus 7.8% in the same period last year.

Commenting of the inauguration of the new facility, Edita Chairman and Managing Director Hani Berzi said: “We are very pleased to see our efforts over the past years begin to materialize with the commissioning of the first in a series of new lines to be housed at the E08 facility. The new factory will allow us to both expand our current product offering through the introduction of variants on existing products and, in parallel, give us the space we need to continue rolling out new products developed through the company’s in-house R&D department. As a leader in the snack food industry, our ultimate goal to continue delivering unique value propositions to our consumers, leveraging innovation and brand equity to grow our market share, all while maximizing shareholder value.”

Edita holds number-one market positions in Egypt in its core cake and croissant segments and a number-two market position in rusks. In 1Q 2017, Edita recorded revenues of EGP 642.4 million, EBITDA of EGP 94.5 million and reported a net profit of EGP 40.4 million.

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