From a historic IPO to regional expansion and acquisitions, the business grew in leaps and bounds and we are now in the process of building the next chapter in our Company’s future.
I am incredibly proud to lead this company and honored to present to our valued shareholders and stakeholders our annual report for the year 2022, which I believe, was a new phase where Jahez Group established its bases as an integrated and coherent platform serving its clients in a differentiated way and increasing the added value for its investors while being ready for future changes and developments.
Throughout 2022, the Group invested in several verticals and built new others while continuing - Thank God - to achieve positive results and maintain a high level of growth. This is a testament to our team’s dedication and hard work in providing high-quality services to our customers, despite the challenges faced.
Perhaps the biggest highlight of the year for Jahez was its unprecedented initial public offering (IPO), which commanded the attention of the Region and elsewhere in January 2022. A successful start to the year set the tone for what was to come in 2022, as Jahez became the first ever homegrown startup to be listed on Nomu, the Kingdom’s parallel market. The USD 2.4 Bn IPO made international headlines, a first for a start-up that had been in operation for a mere five years. The IPO paved the way to increased scalability, resulting in rapid expansion, fast-tracked development of existing business verticals and bold new acquisitions that set the stage for a journey of diversification and growth that is still ongoing.
Strengthened by the success of the IPO, the year saw Jahez widen its regional footprint by covering 90 cities in the Kingdom and by entering Bahrain and Kuwait. This expansion has been a key part of our strategy to reach more customers and provide them with our services. Commercial operations for Jahez officially commenced in Bahrain, in June 2022, leveraging Bahrain’s high Ease of Doing Business ranking and proximity to the Kingdom. Later in the year, the Group stepped into Kuwait, once again looking to establish itself as an emerging leader in a market with huge potential and high food delivery adoption.
Diversification has been at the heart of Jahez’s growth strategy since its inception, and the year 2022 was no exception. In the third quarter, the Group entered a joint venture with AlHilal Club Investment Company in establishing BLU Store, a company that specializes in sportswear representing AlHilal’s array of products among the best known brands and sports and healthy lifestyle stores. The new venture offered the first interactive app of its kind in the Region, providing sports goods and services to enthusiasts and professionals alike.
In addition, the Group has acquired Marn Business Information Technology Company (Marn) offering multiple modern technical services that support merchants in their growth. This acquisition will allow us to enhance our offerings and provide even better services to our stakeholders. The acquisition was closed successfully in January 2023. Further, the Group signed a share purchase agreement to fully acquire “The Chefz”. This acquisition is subject to the relevant regulators’ approvals to be completed.
The Group performed exceptionally well in 2022 across all its business verticals, reaching a 10% Adj. EBITDA margin exceeding SAR 167 Mn. This report will go into detail on performance highlights for each subsidiary and operating segment over the reporting period.
One of the areas in which the Group made considerable progress during 2022 was technology. Customers, merchants and delivery partners all benefited from the technological capabilities of the business that were greatly enhanced in 2022 as evidenced by optimizing data utilization and integration across all the Group platforms which led to increased accuracy and implementation of cost efficiency mechanisms.
As explained elsewhere in this report, Jahez also set out to be a logistics leader in the Region in 2022 by investing in the enhancement of the Group’s logistical capabilities, particularly through greater investment in Logi, the last-mile-delivery arm, in line with the requirements of the concerned governmental entities. The logistic segment faced serious challenges related to the inability of existing stakeholders to absorb the pace of driver onboarding according to the agreed plan with regulators and this led to low level of utilization and productivity of the drivers.
However, data-driven solutions were sought for these challenges, most of which I am happy to note have now been resolved. Currently, the Group has a fleet with a high level of professionalism and productivity securing an important portion of orders for its delivery platforms and enabling the Group to be one of the major players in the last-mile-delivery segment. Following the tremendous growth post-IPO, the Group has also been contributing significantly to the Kingdom’s digital transformation through its groundbreaking innovations in e-commerce and digital empowerment of women.
Since its foundation, Jahez is committed to an ESG philosophy that is simultaneously progressive and growth-friendly, perfectly in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 strategy. In 2022, since the early days of the post-IPO period, ESG considerations were a high priority, with a clear strategy in place targeting multiple sustainability objectives. In terms of other Vision 2030 goals, Jahez, with its entry to the regional market as a disruptor, has come to embody the Kingdom’s ambition of making international icons out of national champions.
The hurdles notwithstanding, 2022 was a good year for Jahez in terms of achievement. From a historic IPO to regional expansion and noteworthy acquisitions, the business grew in leaps and bounds, and we are now in the process of building the next chapter in our company’s future. Looking ahead, we will continue building on our 5 pillars (Develop operations and strategic alliances, Refine customer experience, Implement marketing & business development, Vitalize sustainability, and Enable organizational excellence) in order to “DRIVE” our strategy with a clear roadmap to grow our business and deliver long term value for all our stakeholders.
To conclude, I would like to express my deep gratitude and appreciation for our clients, stakeholders and employees for making Jahez what it is today, and I am confident that we will continue to celebrate many great successes together. First, a heartfelt thank you to the teams for their professionalism and dedication that allowed us to reach our current position and let us think about our future growth with optimism. A big thanks to our Board of Directors, for their trust and continuous support which allows us to do the work that we do and motivates us to always strive for better on your behalf.
Finally, we are sincerely thankful to our shareholders, for their trust in our business. I and the Jahez Group employees are committed to living up to that trust as we work to fulfill our purpose and create value for you.
Ghassab Bin Salman Bin Ghassab Bin Mandeel
Chief Executive Officer