Egyptian businessman Medhat Khalil’s Raya Contact Center reports 54-percent drop in profit

Raya Contact Center, a Cairo-based business-process and contact center outsourcing services company founded by Egyptian multimillionaire businessman Medhat Khalil, has reported a 54-percent drop in profitability despite a single-digit gain in sales at the end of 2021.

Raya Contact Center is one of the many functioning companies of Raya Holding for Financial Investments, an Egypt-based investment conglomerate formed in 1999 by the merging of Medhat Khalil’s Protech and Oratech.

According to the company’s financial statements, profit dropped by 54 percent from EGP36.48 million ($2.32 million) in 2020 to EGP23.74 million ($1.52 million) by the end of 2021, owing to an increase in operational expenses and changes in revenue allocation, which resulted in a loss of profitability.

The company’s revenue climbed by seven percent at the end of 2021, from EGP733.8 million ($46.8 million) to EGP789.23 million ($50.32 million), owing to revenue contributions from its in-sourcing division.

CEO Ahmed Refky said that the double-digit fall in profitability caused by the shift in revenue distribution was worsened by lower utilization rates across the company’s facilities due to COVID-19.

“We are confident that the easing of pandemic restrictions will allow us to boost our commercial activity and grow utilization rates over the coming year. Additionally, we are pushing forward with our pre-pandemic plans for Poland to grow the operation and cement our presence as a key player in the European market,” Refky said.

To put the firm on a development path and counteract the shrinkage of its activities in the UAE, the management said it will focus on diversifying its foreign currency income streams, a plan that has resulted in the acquisition of an 85-percent ownership in Gulf CX in September 2021.

Raya Contact Center shares were trading at EGP2.18 ($0.139) as of press time on March 12, up 3.32 percent from their opening price on the Egyptian Stock Exchange yesterday.

On the Egyptian stock exchange, the company’s market capitalization is estimated at EGP485.6 million ($31 million) at the current pricing.