In its new expansion plan, the Evergrow Group for Specialized Fertilizers focuses on opening new markets, which contributes to increasing the company’s sales to reach 8 billion pounds. Dr. Ahmed Khalifa, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the group, in his interview with “Capital”, reviewed the details of the expansion plan of the group and the expected results of the restructuring process carried out by the group in the past two years.. and the text of the dialogue.
The group carried out a financial restructuring process, which included obtaining a loan with a loan amount of 415 million dollars. Are there new loans expected to be signed during the current year?
Khalifa: We are in the process of signing a new syndicated loan amounting to LE 6.8 billion during next April. The loan will be arranged by the National Bank of Egypt with the participation of 30 other banks, in order to refinance existing facilities for the remaining creditor banks that did not participate in the dollar syndicated loan.
In March of last year, Evergrow for Specialized Fertilizers obtained a loan of $415 million from a banking alliance that included 12 banks led by Mashreq Dubai and Al Ahli Bank of Egypt, with the aim of restructuring existing debts with participating banks in the loan, in addition to financing the completion of the construction of the third phase. From the industrial complex in Sadat, estimated at $75 million.
Khalifa said that the efforts of the executive leaders of those banks is what helped the company in the success of the financial reform program, which has become a model for how to support and support the banking system for one of the industrial companies that serve the agricultural and food sector in order to overcome the negative impact of the Corona pandemic and the total closure of many European markets.
What are the axes of the group’s expansion strategy during 2022?
Khalifa: The focus of the group during the current year will be on completing the construction works of the third phase of the industrial complex in Sadat, during which HCL will be used, which is not environmentally friendly, into animal feed and fertilizer, instead of spending 25 dollars per ton of production to treat this waste.
He added: The company produces about 400,000 tons annually, which leads to a reduction in operating profits, while the third phase will convert this waste into animal feed and fertilizer by adding phosphate rock.
Khalifa expected the start of the trial operation of the third phase next April, provided that the actual operation of the company’s full production capacity would take place during the month of August.
He pointed out that the group will inject investments worth one billion pounds during the current year, which will be directed entirely to the completion of the work of the third phase, with a total investment of 2.6 billion pounds only for the third phase.
He said that the company will also focus this year on expanding in opening new markets, through the strategic partnership it signed with the German DHL Global Forwarding Company for logistics services, to support the group’s current operations, and its new investment plans to build fertilizer and feed complexes based on phosphate and potassium in Egypt. and North Africa over the next three years, in addition to the commercial expansion plan for the four commercial centers in Egypt, the UAE, Tanzania and Brazil.
He stressed that the company’s expansions in new markets will have a major role in boosting the company’s sales volume to reach 8 billion pounds.
What are the targeted returns from operating the third phase of the industrial complex project?
Khalifa: The operation of the third phase of the project will contribute to achieving consolidated sales of 8 billion pounds annually for the company by the end of 2023, which will result in a net profit before interest, taxes and depreciation of 1.5 billion pounds, as the current year will witness a gradual improvement in sales from 5 billion pounds currently up to To 6 billion pounds by the end of this year and 8 billion pounds by the end of next year.
The operation of the third phase of the industrial complex will result in the production of 4 main products, namely, di-calcium phosphate, which is a product for feed for fish farms, animals and poultry, with a production capacity of 110,000 tons annually, mono-superphosphate fertilizer with a capacity of 100,000 tons, and 33.6 thousand tons of phosphoric acid. and 90,000 tons of calcium chloride, thus increasing the company’s production capacity from 817,000 tons currently to 1,150,000 tons annually.
