Edita chief Berzi says company aims to deliver quality earnings growth, looks to Jordan as hub to serve KSA: Speaking on an investor call yesterday, Edita Chairman and CEO Hani Berzi said the reported 46% y-o-y drop in Edita’s 1Q2016 earnings masked the “real story” in 2016. Earnings from ongoing operations were up 20% in 1Q2016, once FX losses on the revaluation of non-operating foreign currency liabilities — primarily on a facility to finance capital expenditures — are set aside. Berzi said this marked a “willingness to sacrifice some measure of top-line growth in favour of better margins and quality earnings growth going forward.” Berzi also promised to continue rolling out new Hostess-branded products during the year and will continue pursuing regional expansion, with a greenfield opportunity in Jordan having been identified. The company is introducing new, higher-margin products across its lines of business to enhance margins and profitability “especially with expected further devaluation in the EGP and the introduction of the [value-added tax],” Berzi said. On Jordan, he noted, “We believe Jordan would geographically serve as a hub and facilitate supplying our products to neighboring countries with huge domestic demand where we are already present such as Iraq, Syria and Saudi Arabia.”