RIYADH — Shaker Group (Al Hassan Ghazi Ibrahim Shaker Co.), Saudi Arabia’s leading importer, manufacturer and distributor of air conditioners and home appliances, has released its financial results for the 3-month period ended 31 March 2019, showing that revenue improved by 14.2% to SR197.3 million from Q4 2018, while net loss dropped by 71% to SR27.4 million compared with the previous quarter. The Group’s operating loss decreased by 77.6% to SR19.6 million in the period.

The decrease in Shaker Group’s quarterly net and operating losses was driven by an increase in sales of 14.2%; a 19% decrease in operating and other expenses; reductions in the cost of goods; and an improvement of SR1.5 million in share of associate losses.

Eng. Azzam Saud Almudaiheem, Chief Executive Officer at Shaker Group, said: “At Group level, our quarter-on-quarter performance has improved substantially – giving us confidence in the recent and future impact of our Breakthrough Program. Of particular importance has been sales performance in our principal operating market of Saudi Arabia, where revenues have increased by 9.8% on the previous quarter. Meanwhile, on a year-on-year basis our Saudi operations have seen measurable improvements to both top- and bottom-line results, with revenues improving by 6.5%, gross profit growing by 3.6% and our net loss narrowing by 20% due to a high level of expense control.”

Year-on-year, the first quarter net loss increased by 33.2% due mainly to the weaker performance of the Company’s subsidiary Energy Management Services Company (“EMS”) in the UAE. Operational efficiencies continue to be introduced across the business, in line with the Breakthrough Program turnaround strategy. Efficiency improvement highlights included a year-on-year reduction of 22.6% (SR 7 million) in employee costs and a reduction of 10.2% (SR 6 million) in total expenses.

Almudaiheem further said: “Despite the challenges of subdued market demand and strong competition, we are pleased to see the positive impact that our sales strategy is delivering from quarter-to-quarter. These improving results are supported by the Breakthrough Program, which is now well-established across the company. Once we have completed stock liquidation to comply with SASO regulation, we anticipate lower pressure on margins, which should deliver tangible improvements to the bottom-line.” — SG