Saudi Arabian food-and-beverage group Almarai has appointed Fawaz bin Mohammed Al‑Jasser as its next CEO.

Al‑Jasser will replace Abdullah bin Nasser Albader, who has stepped down from the role due to “personal reasons”.

The appointment is effective 16 January, the company said in a statement yesterday (3 December).

Al‑Jasser has spent close to two decades at Almarai, holding a range of senior roles across the business. His responsibilities have included leadership of the company's bakery, seafood and human resources divisions.

He has also served as general manager of Teeba Company, Almarai’s subsidiary in Jordan.

For the quarter ended 30 September, Almarai posted sales of SR5.55bn ($1.47bn), representing a 6.6% rise year-on-year.

The company linked the increase to “strong” volume growth across its main markets and channels, “led by poultry, dairy, food and bottled water”.

Gross profit for the quarter reached SR1.74bn, up 4.6% from the same period a year earlier. Operating profit increased 2% to SR757.27m.

Net profit for the quarter was SR613.2m, an increase of 7.5%, which Almarai attributed to “disciplined cost control, favourable product mix, and lower funding costs”.

Over the first nine months of the year, sales stood at SR16.61bn, 5% higher than in the comparable period of the previous year.

Gross profit rose 2.9% to SR5.23bn, while operating profit edged up 1.7% to SR2.44bn.

Net profit for the nine-month period came in at SR1.99bn, an increase of 5.78% year-on-year.

In March, Almarai’s planned acquisition of Jordan-based peer Hammoudeh Food Industries fell through.

The deal was announced in October last year when it was revealed that Almarai had struck a deal to buy Hammoudeh Food Industries, the food and beverage manufacturing arm of the Hammoudeh conglomerate, for SR263m ($70.1m at the time).