Page 111 - AAE PR REPORT - April 2024

dominated listing activity in the past few years as governments seek to
fund the diversification of their economies away from fossil fuels.

Last year, money exchange firm Al Ansari Financial Services PJSC
listed in Dubai in one of the first IPOs by a private company in the Gulf

country, while investment vehicle Investcorp Capital Plc followed in

Abu Dhabi in November.

The listing will test investor appetite for privately-owned companies

seeking to grow their businesses. Spinneys plans to maintain a

dividend payout ratio of 70% of annual distributable profits after tax for

fiscal 2024 and the following years. The company reported a profit of
254 million dirhams in 2023, up 19% from the prior year.

Owned by the Al Bwardy family, Spinneys opened its first store in

1961 and now operates 75 supermarkets under the Spinneys,

Waitrose and Al Fair brands in the UAE and Oman. It plans to expand

into Saudi Arabia and set up four stores by the end of the year, its

chief executive officer said last week.

The grocery chain is counting on the UAE’s increasingly affluent
population as well as its Saudi expansion for growth opportunities.

Emirates NBD Capital, Bank of America Corp., and HSBC Holdings
Plc are joint global coordinators for Spinneys’ IPO, while Rothschild &

Co. is the independent financial adviser.

--With assistance from Kateryna Kadabashy.

(Updates with cornerstone investors in third paragraph)

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/s