Abo Moati repays all debts, cyberattacks have very limited impact: Chairman

Logo of Abdullah Saad Mohammed Abo Moati for Bookstores Co.

Abdullah Saad Mohammed Abo Moati for Bookstores Co. repaid all debts as of Dec. 31, 2022, and has strong liquidity to realize its objectives, Chairman Saad Abdullah Abo Moati told Argaam in a phone call.

The debt repayment is a great achievement, as the company reported growth in sales and profits. It also financed all needs from its own resources. Now, Abo Moati has zero debt at a time of rising interest rates.

The company’s segments resumed recovery and growth, after all educational, training, and business sectors normalized after the pandemic.

Abo Moati is keen to raise its sales and reduce expenses compared to total sales, which bolstered gross profit and increased profits, the Chairman added. Moreover, the gradual repayment of all debts in the last few quarters lowered financing costs.

On the other hand, Abo Moati said that the retail stationery market is promising in Saudi Arabia, as diversified education takes center stage in the Kingdom. Saudi Arabia also supports training institutes, universities, schools and kindergartens, which are on the rise year after year.

He added that youth, who make up the largest percentage of population, are the students and trainees, who need to fulfill their educational needs. Abo Moati also cited an increase in the number of companies, which boosts demand for stationery by businesses, banks, etc.

Moreover, the implementation of a three-semester system has a positive impact on the stationery market and sales, driven by increased student needs.

The company operates through the retail and wholesale segments. It has 12 wholesale branches across the Kingdom to meet the demand of government entities, businesses and banks.

Abo Moati also has 16 retail branches located inside malls or as independent stores. It is the agent of Ilahui and MiniGood, and provides a wide range of the daily products for students and households, including smartphones accessories, devices and games.

Commenting on the cyberattack on Abo Moati servers, the Chairman said the cyberattack was on Dec. 8, 2022. The company suspended all operations and hired an accredited cyber security company to examine the systems and network to reset servers, install financial programs, and restore data to link all branches and restart servers gradually.

Abo Moati lost some data between Nov. 4-Dec. 7, 2022, due to these cyberattacks. Some of this data was restored from the paper backups. The company also made an inventory of all items, examined servers and networks to ensure normal operations.

A disaster recovery (DR) plan is being applied with a specialist company, Abo Moati added, affirming that the financial impact on sales was very limited as it continued for two or three days and at some branches only. The Q4 2022 financial results showed the very limited impact of these cyberattacks.

The Chairman said the company’s fiscal year ends on March 31, due to the sector where Abo Moati operates. This is suitable for the company, as the fiscal year coincides with the academic semesters, when Abo Moati records sales leaps. On the other hand, Abo Moati has lower sales and operating activities during summer.

“We’re keen to capitalize on peak times to boost our sales. We shift inventory dates to the summer, as we focus on closing the annual business and arranging our stock,” he concluded.