Juhayna Affirms 1.2% Stake Sale by Pharon Investment

Juhayna Food Industries Co. confirmed in press release that Pharon Investment, an anchor investor in the company, executed the sale of 11,250,133 Juhayna shares, which represents 1.20% of Juhayna’s issued shares and brings Pharon’s total shareholding to 51.02% (491,581,332 shares) following the execution of the transaction.

Pharon Investment is the vehicle through which members of the founding Thabet family hold their equity in Juhayna. Members of the Thabet family are by a wide margin the majority shareholders of Pharon, with minority third-party investors accounting for the balance.

Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Seif El-Din Thabet added that no member of the Thabet family was involved in the sale. Furthermore, Juhayna recently increased its paid-up capital to EGP941mn (from EGP706mn) with the full EGP235mn in additional capital being financed from the company’s profits and retained earnings.

In addition to investing EGP283mn in capex during H1 2014 and the company partially launch its Egyfood yogurt plant in 6 of October City while opening new distribution centers in Qena, Alexandria and Shabramant.

The dairy product and juice maker had posted a 67% fall in Q2 net profit to EGP 40 million, compared to the same period a year earlier.
The company attributed the profit decline to rising milk prices and an increase in spending on selling and distribution.

A 6-percent rise in sales was outpaced by a nearly 12-percent surge in the costs of goods sold, the company said on Wednesday.