Ezz Steel, a Cairo-based steel producer led by Egyptian businessman Ahmed Ezz, saw its profit rise by more than 50 percent in the first nine months of its 2022 fiscal year, as the steel company continued to leverage its capacity and cost-cutting strategies to its advantage.
According to figures in its recently published unaudited financial statement for the first nine months of 2022, its profit increased by 52 percent, rising from EGP4.65 billion ($190 million) in the first nine months of 2021 to EGP5.7 billion ($232 million) in the first nine months of 2022.
The group was able to increase its earnings and improve its financial position by leveraging its strong steel production capacity, which resulted in a rise in steel sales from EGP49 billion ($2 billion) to EGP60.6 billion ($2.47 billion).
Aside from the double-digit increase in steel sales, which increased the group’s earnings, the effectiveness of the group’s cost-cutting strategies also contributed to keeping operating costs at the lowest level possible during the period.
As a result of the robust financial performance, Ezz Steel’s total assets increased from EGP50 billion ($2.04 billion) to EGP57.45 billion ($2.34 billion), while its retained losses decreased from EGP11.9 billion ($484.4 million) to EGP8.7 billion ($354.2 million).
With a total output of 5.14 million tonnes, Ezz Steel is the largest steelmaker in Africa and the Arab world, far ahead of Saudi Arabia’s Hadeed and Emirates Steel.
Ezz owns 60.7 percent of the company, or 329,816,198 shares, in the steel behemoth, making him one of the wealthiest investors on the Egyptian Exchange and one of Egypt’s richest men.
At the time of writing, shares in the Egyptian steelmaker were trading at EGP17.53 ($713.7 million) per share, 6.05-percent higher than their opening price on the local bourse, as investors renewed buying interest in the company’s shares.
