Egypt’s Rakta Paper Manufacturing Company experienced a 45 percent fall in its net profits in the first half of the financial year 2000/2001, earning revenues of 3.1 million Egyptian Pounds ($669,000) compared to EP5.63 million in 2000, reported the Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchange (CASE) Disclosure Unit.
The company also recorded a 32 percent drop in sales during the same period, attaining EP 56.1 million and a 27 percent decrease in the cost of goods sold (COGS), reaching EP 52.83 million, leading to a 68 percent drop in gross profit that reached EP 3.3 million.
Rakta was incorporated as a shareholder company in 1958 as an initiative by the government to supply part of Egypt’s demand for writing and printing paper. Rakta makes use of rice straw as a basic source of fiber in its eight plants, located 15.5 miles east of Alexandria.
The company’s main activities are the manufacturing and trading of writing and printing paper, fluting and duplex board with a total designed capacity of 80,000 tons. Rakta’s major client is the public sector and the government press. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
