(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Agthia, an Abu Dhabi-based food and beverage group, aims to grow both organically and inorganically and aims to close 2018 with at least one acquisition, with a strong focus on the Saudi market, its chief executive officer said in an interview on Sunday.
Speaking on the sidelines of the first day of Gulfood exhibition, Tariq Al Wahedi said the company has enough financial resources for any potential acquisition.
"We have good gunpower behind us that we are ready to invest whatever opportunities that come to us. We always look for opportunities that can give us better market share," Al Wahedi said. "We are getting full range of investment options as acquisitions from Dh2 billion down to Dh50 million that we are assessing as opportunities."
The company has last year acquired one Saudi company in order to enter the largest GCC food and beverage market.
The company is targeting to increase its revenues to $1 billion by 2020 which it aims to achieve by aggressively expanding in Saudi Arabia and launching new products.
"We are investing heavily in Saudi Arabia. In the next three years, most of our investment and expansion growth will be coming from Saudi Arabia where we are planning to move from seventh rank to either third or second," Al Wahedi added.
"This will be coming through expanding distribution network, capacity and manufacturing plant which will come through either acquisition or building our own plant. Then we also plan to do our own distribution to cover entire Saudi Arabia," he added.
Agthia achieved Dh150 million revenues from the kingdom last year and Al Wahedi foresees 300-400 per cent growth over the next three years. The company has presence in the GCC except Qatar, Turkey and Egypt, and is now looking to expand to North Africa countries as well.
Agthia currently commands 30 per cent market share in the UAE and plans three to four per cent growth annually, he said. Its shares on Sunday gained 1.15 per cent to close at Dh4.39.
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