Qalaa Holdings (formerly Citadel Capital) has posted revenues of EGP2.051 billion ($259.6 million) for the third quarter of the year, up 19 per cent compared to the same quarter last year.

On a nine-month basis, revenues climbed 31 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) in the first nine months of 2015 (9M2015) to EGP 6.085 billion.

Revenue growth in the 9M2015 was driven by both cement manufacturing arm ASEC Cement and energy distribution business TAQA Arabia. TAQA Arabia posted a 36 per cent rise in revenues to EGP1.713 billion in the period, while ASEC Holding saw its top line grow 30 per cent to 2.338 billion.

Together, the energy and cement divisions contributed some 69 per cent of total revenues in 9M2015. Qalaa also began the full consolidation of ASCOM in 3Q2015, with latter contributing EGP 162 million to Qalaa’s top-line.

EBITDA for the third quarter declined 9 per cent y-o-y to EGP 214.5 million compared to 3Q2014, the first decline following its upward progression from 1Q2014 through 2Q2015.

“We are pressing ahead with plans to divest assets that will allow us to deleverage and devote maximum attention to high-growth businesses in sectors that are vital to the development of our region such as refining, energy distribution and transportation & logistics,” said Qalaa Holdings chairman and founder Ahmed Heikal.

“We remain firmly committed to growing our investments in ERC — Egypt’s largest in-progress private-sector megaproject due to begin production in 2017 — and TAQA Arabia which is pursuing exciting new opportunities in gas distribution, electricity generation and renewable energy alike.  In parallel we are also looking for opportunities to unlock shareholder value at subsidiaries including ASCOM and Rift Valley Railways that have strong growth outlooks,” he added.

“The sale of ASEC Cement’s Egyptian assets alongside other transactions will fundamentally re-shape Qalaa’s financials, giving more weight on both our income statement and balance sheet to ongoing operations at our energy and mining units and setting the stage for the transformative impact of ERC,” said Qalaa Holdings co-founder and managing director Hisham El-Khazindar.

“The near-full impact of the substantial deleveraging that accompanies these transactions will be felt in our 4Q2015 and 1Q2016 financials.”

The company reported a net loss after tax and minority interest of EGP125.5 million in the third quarter of 2015, a two-fold increase compared to loss of EGP 59.5 million in the third quarter of 2014.

The widening of losses y-o-y owes primarily to an increase in bank interest expense by EGP30 million related to ASCOM’s consolidation, as well as an increase of EGP 27 million in booked provisions related to ARESCO and ASEC Automation, a company statement said. – TradeArabia News Service