The Board of Directors of Saudi Almarai Company, the largest food and dairy company in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, has approved a capital investment of 6.6 billion riyals ($ 1.76 billion) to expand in the poultry sector to double its market share locally.
According to the company’s disclosure on the Saudi Stock Exchange website, on Monday, the expansion will be implemented in several phases over a period of 5 years.
The plan includes developing maternal poultry production facilities to achieve vertical integration of poultry supplies, according to the disclosure.
The company stated that “these investments came as part of the private sector’s participation in the growth of the local economy,” which is based on the oil industry.
Last March, Saudi Arabia launched a partnership program between the public and private sectors, a “partner”, with investments of five trillion riyals ($ 1.3 trillion) until 2030.
The program aims to support major Saudi companies to pump major investments into the local economy in exchange for reducing their cash dividends.
Saudi Arabia imports most of its food from abroad due to the scarcity of local arable water and the lack of arable land.
According to the disclosure, Almarai said that the strategic expansion of the poultry sector will be funded by the company’s internal cash flows.
Almarai Company is 16.3 percent owned by the Saudi sovereign fund (Public Investment Fund) through its investment arm in the agricultural sector, Salik.
