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Maghreb Oxygene, a Casablanca-based company led by Moroccan Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch, reported a single-digit increase in revenue in the first quarter of 2022, benefiting from a rise in gas prices despite a drop in volume.
Maghreb Oxygene is a Moroccan chemical industry player and a leading specialist in industrial gases, medical gases, and related services.
Akwa Group, a conglomerate led by Akhannouch, a leading businessman who was appointed prime minister of Morocco in September 2021, owns 62 percent of the Morocco-based group.
According to data obtained from the group’s quarterly filing, profit increased by 9.8 percent in the first three months of 2022, rising from MAD67.9 million ($6.9 million) in the first quarter of 2021 to MAD74.5 million ($7.6 million) in the current period.
The management disclosed that its financial performance in the first quarter of 2022 aligned with its annual revenue forecasts and strategic expansion roadmap, and that this performance would consolidate its position by controlling its growth levers.
Its strong financial performance in the first quarter of 2022 follows a double-digit increase in revenue from MAD251 million ($25.5 million) in 2020 to MAD277.3 million ($28.1 million) in 2021.
This strong performance is linked to the expansion of its operations, which includes gas and equipment sales, as well as external charges from its operations.
In order to put the group on a growth path, the management invested MAD2.7 million ($274,000) in its operations in comparison to MAD7.4 million ($750,500) in the same period the previous year.
The majority of these investments are for cylinders, cryogenic storage equipment, and various spare parts for manufacturing units.
The group’s net financial debt stood at MAD97.4 million ($9.9 million) at the end of March 2022, down from MAD102.1 million ($10.35 million) a year earlier, demonstrating the effectiveness of the group’s financial strategy, which resulted in a 4.6-percent decrease.
