Skip to content Skip to Search
Skip navigation

Almarai’s $4.8bn push to advance Saudi food security

By Pramod Kumar
Almarai will invest SAR5 blllion to expand existing categories such as bakery, dairy and juices Unsplash/DDP
Almarai will invest SAR5 blllion to expand existing categories such as bakery, dairy and juices

Almarai, the Middle East’s largest dairy farm, will spend more than SAR18 billion ($4.8 billion) under its new five-year strategic plan to achieve food security, which is part of the kingdom’s Vision 2030 goal.

“Investment in the food industry contributes to achieving food security in the kingdom and the region,” the company said in a statement published on the Saudi bourse on Monday.

The 2024-28 strategy is designed to boost growth, optimise sales and enhance financial performance across multiple segments.

Person, Electronics, Mobile Phone

Newsletter
Get the Best of AGBI delivered straight to your inbox every week

As part of the plan, SAR7 billion will be allocated to poultry expansion; SAR5 billion to support existing core product categories such as dairy, juice and bakery; SAR4 billion to develop supply chain and sales capabilities for local and regional expansion; and SAR1 billion to move into new food segments.

The company will also invest SAR1 billion to support and accelerate technology innovation.

The five-year plan will be funded from Almarai’s operational cash flows.

In January the dairy producer said net profit for the final quarter of 2023 rose four percent year on year to SAR371 million, driven by a positive performance in its core GCC markets. It rolled out multiple new products last year and plans to enter the seafood and frozen bakery businesses.

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund owns a 16 percent stake in Almarai through one of its subsidiaries.

Latest articles

RwandAir CEO Yvonne Manzi Makolo said in Doha: 'Addis is already a huge hub but Kigali will be an alternative regional hub, especially given the geographical position of Rwanda'

Qatar and Rwanda to open airport in ‘heart of Africa’ by 2028

Qatar Airways and RwandAir will open a major international airport in Rwanda’s capital Kigali by 2028, the airlines said this week. The Qatari flag carrier has also announced plans to take a stake in a southern African airline to cement its expansion plans on the continent.  RwandAir and Qatar Airways, which have a code-sharing agreement, […]

Tourists photograph the Abu Dhabi skyline. Travel funding is small compared to how much tourism contributes to the economy

Travel startups seen as ‘high risk’ by VC investors

The co-founder and CEO of Dharma, an Abu Dhabi business travel management platform, has claimed the tourism sector isn’t seen as attractive enough for investors.  Dharma, which was one of the first startups accepted into Abu Dhabi’s Hub71 incubation programme, closed a $4.7 million Series A funding round last year. “I think for venture capital […]

Traders look at the screens at Bahrain Bourse in Manama, Bahrain, February 7, 2018. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

Bahrain Bourse needs more liquidity despite 43% surge

The Bahrain Bourse has surged by almost 43 percent in the past five years, but experts have warned that the Gulf state must prioritise further listings to bring more liquidity into the market. The bulk of the growth on the kingdom’s main exchange has come from a select number of liquid stocks, topped by Aluminium […]

Taqa reported that revenues rose 5 percent year on year in Q1 thanks to a contribution from SWS Holding

Profit at Abu Dhabi’s Taqa falls 82% on one-off items

Net profit at Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa) dropped 82 percent to AED2.1 billion ($572 million) in the first quarter of 2024, from AED11.6 billion a year ago. Taqa’s fall in profit was attributed to one-off items recognised in 2023. Net income at Taqa, excluding the one-off items, increased by AED100 million, 6.9 percent […]