Savola chief to take group into new phase of growth

The Savola Group celebrated its record achievements during its annual conference held last week under the theme “Focusing, delivering, and growing.” Abdulraouf Mannaa, group MD, who opened the conference described it as a great and remarkable day of celebrating the group’s historic achievements in 2012. Mannaa expressed his confidence in the support of more than 18,000 Savolans to drive the group as it takes its next leap forward into a new phase of growth and development. Mannaa said: “In 2012, the Savola Group achieved a net operating profit of SR 1.35 billion, which is 12.5 percent higher compared to last year. Now, in 2013, we are ready for more challenges and more growth. First of all, we aim to achieve SR 1.4 net operating profit in 2013 by continuing our organic growth from our core businesses.” Muwaffaq Mansour Jamal, CEO of Azizia Panda, gave the retail sector presentation and stating that Azizia Panda now has 146 stores in Saudi Arabia in 33 cities. “In 2012, every single day we received one million people and our strategy for 2013 is to increase our presence by opening 15 more Panda supermarkets and 5 HyperPanda stores, offering the best value at the lowest cost in order to keep us number one in public perception.” A presentation on plastics sector by Azhar Kenji, CEO Savola Plastics Sector, and a foods sector presentation by Abderrahim Amaaraf, CEO of Savola Foods, followed. The guest speaker at the conference was Nabil Hammad, a specialist in strategic thinking and planning, who spoke about the relationships in the workplace between bosses and employees, highlighting the different management styles. A presentation on HR was given by Abdulghani Abdullah, VP, Savola Human Resources. The next segment showcased Savola’s CSR programs focusing on Makeen, Savola’s Center for Empowering People with Disabilities (Makeen) as well as Savola Global Sustainability Reporting Initiative (GRI). From: Arabnews