MAF still pursuing growth plans despite revenue slowdown in 2017
MAF still pursuing growth plans despite revenue slowdown in 2017: Despite a drop in earnings in 2017, the UAE’s Majid Al Futtaim Group (MAF) is still pursuing regional expansion plans that should see it double in size by 2020, CEO Alain Bejjani said yesterday, The National reports. The company is planning to open new “cinemas in Saudi Arabia and more Carrefour stories in Sub-Saharan Africa,” he added. Preliminary results show that MAF grew its earnings 1% y-o-y in 2017, compared to an 8% growth rate a year before, weighed down by factors such as the currency float in Egypt.
Things are expected to look up in 2018, especially as the tourist market begins to recover. The company is engaged in talks for several acquisitions and has “plans to open 10 new City Centre malls, six hotels, 28 cinemas, 40 Carrefour supermarkets, and a 740k sqm master- planned community over the next 10 years” in the UAE. MAF will also launch a mall project with a indoor ski slope in Saudi Arabia and will invest AED 5 bn in Oman by 2020.