EARNINGS WATCH- Pandemic lockdown weighed on Edita’s 2Q2020 performance: The covid-19 pandemic and the partial lockdown the government imposed weighed on Edita’s profitability during the second quarter of the year, leading the snack food maker to report a 90.3% y-o-y drop in net profit to EGP 3.1 mn in the second quarter. The company said in its earnings release (pdf) that it generated EGP 768.7 mn in revenues in 2Q2020, down 10.9% from the same period last year. On a six-month basis, Edita’s revenues slipped 6.1% y-o-y to EGP 1.73 bn. The company said the closure of schools and universities and the night-time curfew cut into the number of packs it sold.

Edita is focusing on driving sustainable revenue growth throughout 2020 and plans to “stimulate demand by leveraging its innovative abilities to introduce new offerings, while simultaneously migrating consumers to higher price-points.” Meanwhile, construction is proceeding according to schedule at Edita’s first-ever facility in Morocco, which is on track to begin operations early next year.

MM Group reported a 17.7% y-o-y decline in net profits in 1H2020 to EGP 209 mn, down from EGP 254 mn during the same period last year, the company said in a bourse disclosure (pdf). The company’s consolidated revenues also dropped 18.7% during the first six months of the year to EGP 4.3 bn, from EGP 5.3 bn last year.