Qalaa Holdings topline growth boosted by ASEC Cement's Sudan subsidiary

Qalaa Holding reported a 43 per cent rise in revenue for the three months to the end of March 2015 to EGP1947.5m and an eight-fold surge in EBITDA growth to EGP275.8m.

The company said topline growth was driven mainly by operational improvements at subsidiary ASEC Cement’s Al-Takamol works in Sudan, which recorded revenue growth of 157 per cent or an EGP131.7m increase over 1Q14. Furthermore, Qalaa’s core platform company TAQA Arabia also saw revnues increase by 57 per cent to EGP526.5m in 1Q15. Together the energy and cement segments contributed 71 per cent to consolidated revenues .

EBITDA meanwhile stood at EGP275.8m and is well on-target to meet management’s stated goal of closing FY15 with EBITDA in the vicinity of EGP1.2bn.

“The year 2015 is off to a good start for Qalaa with our strategic transformation and operational improvements continuing to be positively reflected in the company’s financial performance,” said Ahmed Heikal, Chairman and Founder of Qalaa Holdings.

“As was the case in FY14, where Qalaa swung to a positive EBITDA north of EGP650m, up from a negative a year earlier, we are on-track to meet our previously stated guidance of EBITDA of around EGP1.2bn by year’s end.”