Citadel Capital, a leading investment company in Africa and the Middle East region, has reported a standalone net profit of EGP5.3 million ($747,859) for the first quarter on revenues of EGP20.2 million, compared to a net loss of EGP30.5 million last year.

Announcing the results, Citadel Capital said the revenues eased 17.2 per cent from the first quarter of 2012 largely because equity investments in Egyptian Refining Company became non-fee-earning in advance of financial close on the project in June 2012.

As part of its report, the firm also released data on the performance of its eight operational core platforms in the core industries of energy, transportation, agrifoods, mining and cement, which together reported the aggregate revenues to EGP 1.4 billion (on par with the same quarter of last year).

This came as top-line improvements in the Agrifoods and Cement sectors were largely balanced out by dips in revenues in Transportation (as freight volumes in East Africa fell temporarily as the market sagged on political risk worries) and Energy sectors.

As the firm’s transition into an investment company positioned to create long-term shareholder value continues, Citadel Capital narrowed its consolidated net loss in the first quarter by 20 per cent to EGP126.4 million.

Commenting on the results, Citadel Capital chairman and founder Ahmed Heikal said: "Broadly speaking we are pleased with the performance of our operational core platform companies in the first quarter, and are very optimistic that we are on the right side of medium- and long-term macroeconomic trends."

“We expect our agrifoods, East African transport, non-Egyptian cement services and all export-oriented businesses will continue to lead growth in the portfolio. Meanwhile, continued economic turbulence in the short term will mute growth at a number of our Egyptian businesses," he added.

Heikal said in the medium- and long-term, Citadel's investments will grow by helping nations capture opportunities and governments solve challenges, whether it’s Rift Valley Railway in Kenya and Uganda helping spur regional trade and growth, or the Egyptian Refining Company in Egypt helping reduce the nation’s present-day diesel imports by well over half.

"As part of its drive to transform into an investment company, Citadel Capital is pursuing majority control of 10 focus platforms in its five core industries with a view to maximizing shareholder value through long-term holding periods to take full advantage of prevailing macro trends," he added.

According to him, lower losses came primarily as the firm consolidated fewer losses from its share of associates’ results in the first quarter.

"Putting aside additional impairments on intercompany balances related to the fully impaired National Petroleum Company, losses would have been at EGP43.2 million, a 72 per cent improvement from the first quarter," he added.-TradeArabia News Service