Business & Money | Monday 4 February, 2019 11:02 am |

Shaker Group (“Al Hassan Ghazi Ibrahim Shaker Co.”, the “Company” or the “Group”), Saudi Arabia’s leading importer, manufacturer and distributor of Air Conditioners and Home Appliances, has announced the Board approval and launch of its Breakthrough Program transformation plan, to be implemented during 2019 and 2020.

 

Breakthrough Program

 

Shaker Group announced the launch of its Breakthrough Program, effective until 2020, with four pillars for improving performance. The first pillar, Core Business Turnaround (CBT), will focus on achieving profitable sales while delivering excellence in cost management. The second pillar, Talent Upgrade Plan (TUP), seeks to attract and develop talent at the Company while improving organisational structure and rationalising headcount. The third pillar, Performance Infrastructure (PI), will see improvements to the processes and architecture of the business, as well as enhancing reporting methods; while the final pillar, Strategic Moves (STR), will see strengthening of relationships with principals and business partners and exploration of opportunities beyond core operations, to ensure an unparalleled value proposition to customers.

 

Eng. Azzam Saud Almudaiheem, Chief Executive Officer at Shaker Group, commented:

 

“While we have faced pressure on sales revenues as a result of market challenges including increased competition, a lackluster construction sector and unfavorable seasonality, we are very pleased to be formally rolling out our Breakthrough Program, having already realized recent success in efforts to reduce operating expenses and improve efficiencies. We are confident of the positive impact we expect to see from them, and I am pleased to say that our staff are fully engaged in support of the program for turning our business around. While we have experienced difficult years in a challenging market, the Breakthrough Program shows that we are addressing these issues head-on to achieve improved performance. We are bullish that the market for AC and home appliances shows long-term promise, which we intend to actively exploit.”

 

Breakthrough Program highlights include:

 

• Profitable and responsible sales, targeting Business to Business (B2B), Business to Consumers (B2C) and Aftersales opportunities
• Cost excellence, covering operating efficiencies and improved working capital management
• Organizational restructuring to better serve B2B and B2C customers
• Talent upgrade, hiring across critical positions and enhancing talent in the sales force
• Establishment of a Transformation Office for driving and monitoring turnaround progress
• Strengthening relationships with principals and business partners to ensure an unparalleled value proposition, while exploring new categories and new segment opportunities
• Embedding new management: Shaker Group’s leadership, who have deep sector knowledge and high ambition, are essential to the future success of the Company

 

Mohammed Ibrahim Abunayyan, Chief Strategies and Transformation Officer at Shaker Group, said:

 

“We are proud to unveil the Shaker Group Breakthrough Program, the development of which has been a key focus area for management. While the Program extends through 2020 – and only after then do we expect to fully realise its benefits – we are optimistic that material improvements in performance will be delivered.

 

Already, we have deployed more than 30 initiatives, and have successfully rationalized our SKU-level inventory, supported by a plan that includes safeguards against future build-up. At the same time, we have improved the efficiency of our employee structure and appointed several senior executives to critical positions. Looking ahead, we will maintain the agility to exploit new opportunities, including public sector initiatives that we expect will boost the Air Conditioning industry by enabling consumers to seek more efficient models. We will take full advantage of such growth avenues.”

 

The Group, which is listed on Tadawul (symbol: SHAKER), is a leader in the Saudi market as both a distributor for international electrical brands and a local manufacturer of LG Air Conditioners. The Group’s portfolio brands include LG, as well as Indesit, Ariston, Maytag, Midea and Bissell in the home appliances segment. In 2015, the Group increased its stake in the UAE’s Emirates Energy Management Services (EMS) from 20% to 74%, and in establishing “ESCO” as a business unit of Shaker Group, took an important strategic step towards diversifying operations and revenue streams.