SISCO posts strong revenue growth, plans expansions: CEO

Khalid Suleimani, CEO, SISCO

Saudi Industrial Services Co. (SISCO) recorded strong revenue growth and improved margins on the back of strong performance from the ports and water segments in Q1 2023, CEO Khalid Suleimani told Argaam in an interview.

SISCO delivered robust financial performance following last year’s challenging first half, which reflects improved economic conditions and the strong operational performance of the group’s portfolio companies.

The ports segment had the biggest growth contribution to the first-quarter results, mainly driven by growth in gateway volumes, Suleimani said, expecting the robust ports performance to continue with volumes returning to pre-COVID levels.

The water sector segment witnessed better performance, as its volumes increased during the year, leading to a 35% increase in revenues. The company also reduced direct costs to record a gross profit margin of over 50%.

Further, Kindasa Water Services Co.’s license with MAWANI was extended for an additional five years, extending the duration for the water desalination plant operation in Jeddah Islamic Port until 2032.

He added that the logistics segment showed consistent results and is expected to maintain growth on new warehousing capacities in the coming period.

Other portfolio companies also outperformed, compared to the previous year.

“Our strong results indicate that the supply chain constraints and container shortages have abated, as we are witnessing strong volume recovery. We expect local imports to be healthy for the remainder of the year, backed by the improved economic conditions and planned government spending,” Suleimani added.

SISCO is also expanding operations within its current investments. The ports business recently expanded its gateway capacity to handle 6.2 million TEUs, the CEO said.

“We are similarly expanding our logistics warehousing capacity in 2023, with the first 21,000 sqm warehouse going operational from April 1, 2023. There are expansion plans for all of our other portfolio companies to drive continued growth in all of our business segments,” he added.

SISCO is expanding operations within the current investments to enhance steady growth in all segments.

On the company’s performance, the CEO said: “We are confident of building on the strong performance of Q1 2023 and carrying this through to the rest of the year to deliver strong profitability for 2023.”

SISCO’s Q1 2023 net profit spiked to SAR 19.4 million, from SAR 800,000 in Q1 2022, Argaam earlier reported.