SODIC targets contracting deals worth LE 3.7bn this year, Managing Director

The Sixth of October Development and Investment Company (SODIC) is on track to execute this year’stargetsin terms of project investments, according to Magued Sherif, SODIC’s Managing Director.

"SODIC has so far withstood coronavirus induced headwinds, crippling Egypt's real estate sector and causing sales to dip in the first quarter owing to the uncertainty and precautionary measures," Sherif told Osoul Misr Magazine.

"The company has an investment plan worth LE3.740bn this year and seeks to fully implement it."

SODICsigned a deal worth LE1.2bn to carry out SODIC East project in East Cairo in collaboration with Heliopolis Company for Housing and Development.

"The company's massive spending on investments reflects its financial resilience and we have put in place different scenarios for sales in the upcoming period."

“Facilities offered by banks have not yet been used up by SODIC, indicating the company's solid financial position in terms of cash inflows, he added.”

"SODIC has good relations with banks owing to its outstanding track record and renowned credit scoring, whereby various credit facilities are constantly made available for use by the company."

"The company may revise this year's sales targets estimated at LE 8.4bn owing to coronavirus-induced worldwide fallouts. Nevertheless, we still maintain very bullish outlook on sales for the second half of this year."

With Coronavirus pandemic forcing companies to rethink marketing mechanisms, SODIC has put in place a new scheme for digital marketing.

“The crisis has fast-tracked a digital marketing scheme which enabled the company to communicate with domestic clients during this hard time as well as with foreign customers which made up 18% of the company's sales in the first quarter, he elaborated.”

"Egypt's real estate market is going to rebound and the market is well positioned to overcome the current challenges. The market may slow down for some time in response to this global crisis but we are on the way to recover and will hopefully resume an upward trajectory, similar to what happened in 2008 as well as 2011 and 2013 macro shocks."

The Egyptian real estate market is bolstered by real demand for housing units and shrinking supply. Owing to a young population, a gap in demand is growing and widening. This is accentuated by an inherent need for owning our own homes as a culture and for migrating to new urban communities that offer a better quality of life.