By: Heba Kordy
Cairo – Mubasher: Eastern Company is targeting EGP 300 million in revenue in the fiscal year 2017/2018 from its latest cigarette price hike, said PR executive Ali Saad El Din on Tuesday.
It is expected that these revenues will cover a portion of the rise in production costs incurred by the company, Saad El Din told Mubasher via phone.
The targeted sum will also be added to the company’s expected revenues as part of this year’s estimated budget of EGP 12.2 billion, he added.
Eastern Company has no plans to raise its product prices again this year, the PR executive stressed.
Earlier this month, the cigarette manufacturer announced raising the prices of several of its products by around EGP 0.50 to EGP 2.25.
The price of Cleopatra King Size cigarettes increased to EGP11.5 per pack from EGP 10.5, while Cleopatra Queen’s price rose to EGP 12.5 from EGP 12.
Eastern Company’s stock was stable at EGP 310 at the closing of Tuesday’s trading session.
The Ministry of Finance (MoF) recently informed the company that it was expecting to receive EGP 52 billion for the 2017/2018 budget in order to bridge the deficit gap resulting from the surge in expenses.
The MoF’s figure represents a 10% increase from the EGP 42 billion contributed by Eastern Co. last year.
Eastern Company’s ordinary general meeting (OGM) recently approved the budget for the fiscal year 2017/2018 with a projected net profit of EGP 1.4 billion, according to a statement.
Translated by: Nada Adel Sobhi
