Mahmoud & Abdel Khalek Saeed Co - Cosmetics and Toiletries - Saudi Arabia
Mahmoud & Abdel Khalek Saeed Co
Strategic Direction
·
The company aims to strengthen
its position within premium fragrances through focusing on its premium image
and brand strength with further new launches predicted in coming years. The
company also aims to broaden its presence in other product groups within the
cosmetics and toiletries industry and to strengthen its Casanova brand through
the launch of a number of other products. Improved distribution among a larger
network of local outlets and exports represent the company’s main focus.
Key Facts
Full name of company:
|
Mahmoud & Abdel Khalek Saeed Co
|
Address:
|
P.O. Box 17013 Jeddah 21484 – Saudi
Arabia
|
Tel:
|
966 2 636 0020
|
Fax:
|
966 2 637 9090
|
www:
|
www.msgroup.com, www.spci-sa.com,
www.jcasanovaparis.com
|
Activities:
|
Manufacturing huge ranges of mass
and premium fragrances and other cosmetics and toiletries products.
Manufacturing of packaging materials needed for fragrances. Retailing through
a chain of specialist/perfumery outlets, shopping malls and restaurants
|
Source: Euromonitor
International from company’s sources and websites
Year end December
|
2005
|
2006
|
2007
|
Net sales (SR million)
|
110
|
130
|
145
|
Number of employees
|
125
|
145
|
160
|
Source: Euromonitor
International from trade press (Arab news Daily)
Note: Sales
and number of employees above are for group’s facilities related to cosmetics
and toiletries only
Company Background
·
Mahmood Saeed Group, also known
as Mahmood Saeed Collective Company, is a privately owned Saudi group of
companies established by Sheikh Mahmood Saeed. The company was first
commercially registered in 1948. During the 1970s and early 1980s the Sheikh
diversified the business and ventured into more manufacturing, trading and real
estate operations, all gathered under one umbrella under the name Mahmood Saeed
Collective Company or Mahmood Saeed Group of Companies in 1998. The group is
currently a partnership between Mahmood Saeed’s sons: Mahmood M. Saeed Gasim
and Abdul Khalek M. Saeed Gasim. (NB: for the purposes of reflecting the
overall performance of the group within the cosmetics and toiletries industry,
the companies’ brands were placed under Mahmood and Abdel Khaleq Saeed Co, as a
national brand owner for all).
·
The group’s business structure
is diversified into four core areas: manufacturing, trading, shopping centres
and real state and restaurants, and includes the following business units:
·
Mahmood Saeed Glass Industry
(MSGI)
·
Mahmood Saeed Beverage Industry
(MSBI)
·
Saudi Perfumes & Cosmetics
Industry (SPCI)
·
Mahmood Saeed Furniture
Division (MSFD)
·
Mahmood Saeed Plastic Company
(MSPC)
·
Mahmood Saeed Trading Division
(MSTD)
·
Mahmood Saeed Oasis Mall (MSOM
·
Mahmood Saeed Group Office
(MSGO)
·
Saudi Perfumes & Cosmetics
Industry (SPCI) is the manufacturing arm of the company, responsible for the
production of most of the company’s products that are present in the cosmetics
and toiletries industry. The group is also responsible for J Casanova LLC
located in Paris. The establishment of J Casanova in the early 1980s was aimed
at the creation and marketing of prestigious perfume and cosmetics brands, and
the adoption and launch of the Casanova trademark as a unique and genuine
perfume and cosmetics line. J Casanova’s portfolio now covers many types of
cosmetics and toiletries, including skin care, bath and shower products, hair
care, men’s grooming products, fragrances, colour cosmetics and depilatories.
·
The group produces over 1,000
different products in the field of perfumes and other cosmetics and toiletries.
However, despite its expansion into other areas within the cosmetics and
toiletries industry, fragrances, mainly mass brands, remained the group’s core
business, generating 90% of the group’s total sales (excluding sales of
packaging materials) at the end of the review period. The group mainly sells
its products into the domestic market, but also exports to other neighbouring
countries in the Gulf region. In addition, J Casanova’s range of perfumes and
other cosmetics and toiletries are distributed through selective outlets
throughout the Kingdom, and also through many overseas countries and Europe.
·
Mahmood Saeed Trading Division
is the sales arm for the company’s products, which are produced locally by
SPCI, or purchased from foreign and local suppliers. Its activities include
import, export, wholesale as well as retailing of perfumes, cosmetics, beauty
care products and household products. Around 80% of its sales come from SPCI
products, and the remaining 20% from foreign imports and local purchases of its
world renowned perfume products.
Production
·
Saudi Perfumes & Cosmetic
Industries, the manufacturing arm of the group, is the largest company of its
kind in the Middle East, and was established in 1982. It is a fully integrated
production facility for perfumes and cosmetics combining six operating units
under one structure: aluminium aerosol container production and colouring;
aluminium tube production and colouring; glass bottle colouring and printing;
can-end and bottles metallization in gold and silver; plastic cap production;
perfumes and cosmetics blending, filling and packaging.
·
The factory produces 20 million
perfume bottles and more than 1,000 product references including perfumes
cosmetics and household products. The group’s portfolio mainly comprises a
large range of mass men’s and women’s perfumes, such as Casanova, Beethoven,
Michelangelo and Pandora. The company also produces a large range of premium
fragrances including Ana Wel Shooq, Mothhela and Ahibbini.
·
Besides serving Saudi Arabia,
the domestic market where it achieved notable success, the company also exports
to many other countries, such as the UAE, Oman, Yemen, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan
among many other countries in Asia and Africa.
Location
|
Brand
|
Jeddah
|
Casanova
|
Jeddah
|
Beethoven, Michelangelo, Athena and
Pandora among other hundreds of mass brands
|
Jeddah
|
Bit Al Nour, Ana Wel Shooq, Mothhela
and Ahibbini and Al Sultan among other premium brands
|
Source: Trade
press, company research, trade interviews
Competitive Positioning
·
Mahmoud & Abdel Khalek
Saeed Co positioned itself as the leading producer of perfumes in the Middle
East, pioneering the local production of French-style fragrances on a mass
scale. Despite its diversification into other cosmetics and toiletries,
fragrances remained at the core of the company’s interests. The company held
the fourth leading position in fragrances and was present in most other product
groups with its Casanova brand, although its share remained very low in 2007.
Its strength in fragrances stems from its massive production of hundreds of
mass fragrances that are sold at very competitive prices. The company also
benefits from its glass manufacturing facility, which is considered one of the
largest for the production of glass bottles needed for fragrances and other
industries.
·
Within fragrances, the company
dominated sales of mass fragrances with a 23% value share in 2006, unchanged on
the previous year but up nearly four percentage points on 2002. The company
appeared very dynamic in terms of new product launches where dozens of new
fragrances were introduced every year. Major threats to the company within mass
fragrances generally came from manufacturers from the UAE. These include Rasasi
Perfumes Industry LLC, which is able to offer similar and sometimes more
competitive prices for its mass fragrances. The company also appeared strong in
depilatories, where it held fifth position, and also featured in deodorants,
hair care, bath and shower products and men’s grooming through its emerging
Casanova brand.
·
The major headway made by
Mahmood Saeed since 2004, when it entered premium fragrances, is due to
impressive launches of many premium brands with a localised image such as
Velvet Rose, Tedallal, Mothhela, Bit Al Nour and Ana Wel Shooq and Ahibbini. TV
advertisements continued to support many of these in 2007 with further new
launches also introduced. A main unique selling point behind the success of
such brands is that they are named after the most popular songs popularised by
famous Arab singers in the Gulf region, such as Mohammad Abdel and Abdul Majeed
Abdullah. The TV advertisements for these brands featured the original song
that is related to each fragrance. With this range, the company saw its value
share of premium fragrance sales increase from zero in 2003 to 2% in 2007 – a
share that placed the company in sixth place in premium fragrances in 2007.
Product type
|
Value share (%)
|
Rank
|
Cosmetics and toiletries
|
1.5
|
19
|
Fragrances
|
4.8
|
4
|
Depilatories
|
4.1
|
5
|
Source: Euromonitor
International
