SISCO to boost investments in subsidiaries to benefit from emerging markets opportunities

Saudi Industrial Services Co. (SISCO), Saudi Arabia’s leading strategic investor in ports and terminals, stated that it will build on its current portfolio of subsidiaries, to take advantage of the opportunities in the emerging markets.

In a press statement on its Q1 2021 financial results, SISCO stated that it will continue to invest in assets and companies in the ports, logistics and water segments, where significant potential earnings opportunities exist, and where the company’s management can provide oversight on operational and growth strategies.

The company is currently undergoing a strategic review exercise, for which it has appointed an external consultant, and expects to announce further developments to its strategy in due course.

CEO Mohammed Al-Mudarres said SISCO continues to achieve very strong results despite operating in a challenging macro-economic environment. "In the first quarter, the group achieved significant top-line growth in the ports and logistics business, driven by improved gateway and trans-shipment volumes and growth in our warehouse and logistics services offer."

With new customers for the logistics business now onboard, the company is seeing strong growth in demand for services.

"Our water solutions business has experienced some challenges, with revenue declining slightly during the first quarter of the year," the CEO noted.

While water production and distribution volumes decreased compared with the previous quarter, the company is confident in the opportunities that exist in the sector with demand from industry and consumers expected to increase in years to come.

The firm managed its balance sheet prudently and maintained a total debt to equity ratio of 45.5% during the quarter, which allowed it to continue to strategically invest in opportunities that offer long-term value.

"The major strategic announcement for the quarter was the divestment of a 21.2% stake in our subsidiary Red Sea Gateway Terminal Ltd. (RSGT) to COSCO and PIF," the CEO said.

“The transaction value of SAR 556.5 million implies an enterprise value for RSGT of SAR 3.3 billion, and we are very pleased to be welcoming both COSCO and PIF as strategic partners to our group of companies," Al-Mudarres said.

Operational highlights:

Ports & Terminals

The Ports & Terminals business benefitted from higher efficiencies and the new concession, in addition to a significant increase of 65.7% in container volumes compared to Q1 2020, a major driver for improving revenues. The ports segment also continued to make positive progress in consolidating and upgrading the adjacent North Container Terminal in the Jeddah Islamic Port.

Logistics Parks & Services

The Logistics Parks & Services segment saw healthy warehousing occupancy at 99% for the quarter (98% in Q1 2020) and commenced the development of additional warehousing capacity for existing customers. The positive impact of major contracts signed in 2020 was also released, in particular with Aramco.

SISCO announced a net profit after Zakat and tax of SAR 32.3 million for Q1 2021, a rise of 21% from SAR 26.6 million in the year-ago period, according to data compiled by Argaam.