Saudi food giant Savola Group has met two of its most highly pursued targets a year before time.

Its first consolidated financial results showed sales for 2004 exceeded SR5 billion ($1.3 billion), a 25 per cent increase over the previous year, and net profits totalled SR500 million, up 67 per cent, group chairman and managing director Adel Mohammed Fakeih said.
In 2000, Savola Group had outlined its “555 or Triple 5” goal of achieving sales of SR5 billion and net profits of SR500 million in 2005.
The performance stemmed from the company’s policy to diversify its operations and income sources through the implementation of a balanced investment policy, Fakeih said.
The Savola Group chief commented that the company had maintained its investments in its core businesses on the one hand while developing an effective investment portfolio in the Saudi Stock Market on the other hand.
“These measures have enabled the company to utilise the investment opportunities available in the Saudi stock market and consequently to achieve its “555 goal” one year ahead of plan.”
Among the developments of 2004 was the sale of Savola’s shares in the glass company Sagco for SR90 million. 
The company also successfully finalised a deal for acquiring a major shareholding (49 per cent) of Behshahr Industrial Company, an Iranian edible oils company, at a total investment cost of SR290 million.
The Behshahr Industrial Company is a market leader in Iran with a 37 per cent share in the edible oils market and annual sales of SR1.1 billion. The Iranian annual consumption of edible oils is approximately 1.2 million tonnes.
2004 details for the companies various divisions were not announced, but individual performances were expected to reflect the spirit of the results and developments witnessed in 2003.   
The group’s major holdings supply Saudi Arabia, the Middle East and North African countries with edible oils, sugar, fresh dairy products, and restaurants serving fast foods. It also owns what is considered the largest retail food chain in the Middle East – the Panda and Azizia supermarkets.
The retail division, comprising the Panda and Azizia supermarkets, enjoyed strong business performance during 2003 and sales grew by 8 per cent, reaching SR1.650 million compared with SR1.525 million for 2002.
There were impressive gains in the edible oils business.
The combined turnover of Afia International Company, formerly Savola Edible Oils Company (SEO), reached SR1.26 million in 2003, compared with SR1.064 million in 2002, an increase of 20 per cent. Afia set new records of profitability in 2003 while also maintaining its product leadership position in all the markets in which it operates.
Afia owns controlling interests of varying percentages and operates factories in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Morocco. It also has a controlling interest in a Sudan factory, which is under construction.
Savola Group’s sugar business, the United Sugar Company (USC), has been progressing, thanks to expansions in facilities and marketing initiatives.
Other businesses and subsidiaries including packaging, Almarai and the fast food division  followed in the footsteps of the group’s edible oils and super-markets businesses (retail division)  with fine performances of their own. 
USC had a very successful year in 2003, which marked a major shift in strategic direction from the past as a production-led sugar refinery. USC, owned 41 per cent by the Savola Group, is now a market-focused sugar company engaged in branding and marketing quality consumer sugar to the Saudi market. As a result, total USC sales in volume grew by 31 per cent from 630 kilo metric tonnes (kMT) in 2002 to 829 kMT in 2003.
USC has produced its first branded retail sugar, Al-Osra, whose packs are filled with fine and coarse sugar.
The company has approved Expansion Phase II for an increase in refinery production capacity to over 1,000 kMT per annum. This will make the USC refinery one of the world’s larger plants.
Another investment, the Almarai Company, continued its strong growth with 2003 sales of SR1.78 billion, up from SR1.6 billion in 2002. Net income for the year was over SR368 million.
The company, owned 40 per cent by the Savola Group, has become one of the leading food companies in the Middle East with more than 150 different products.