CAIRO: Transport start-up Swvl, based in Dubai and Cairo, expects to turn its first profit in 2024 as it expands into new countries, its chief financial officer Youssef Salem said on Thursday.
Swvl last month announced a merger with US-based Queen’s Gambit Growth Capital that will allow the company to list on the US Nasdaq stock exchange.
Founded in Egypt in 2017, Swvl operates a digital platform that allows passengers to reserve and pay for rides with participating buses along fixed routes.
It now operates in 10 cities in six countries and makes more than 3 million trips a month, a number it aims to increase to 2 million a day by 2025.
“Swvl will turn profitable in 2024 after investments and operating costs of about $13 million. We then aim to earn more than $170 million in 2025,” Salem told Reuters.
Swvl’s administrative offices are in Dubai and its main operations in Cairo.
Its capital of more than $100 million will increase to $550 million after it completes a merger with Queen’s Gambit by the end of the year.
It plans to list on Nasdaq in the fourth quarter of 2021 and is studying a possible listing on the Egyptian Exchange in 2022/23.
The company aims to expand to 30 cities in 20 countries by 2025, including in southern and western Europe, Brazil, Mexico, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia, Salem said.
It will expand into other activities such as logistics, advertising and financial services beginning in 2023, he added.
This should help to increase Swvl’s revenue to $800 million in 2024 from a projected $79 million this year and $26 million in 2020 and $100,000 in 2017. It expects revenue to exceed $1 billion in 2025.
The company has 600 employees, 400 of whom are in Egypt, and a network of 5,000 buses, 3,000 of which are in Egypt.
Egyptian transport startup Swvl sees profit by 2024
https://arab.news/9nawb
Egyptian transport startup Swvl sees profit by 2024
- Swvl plans to list on Nasdaq in fourth quarter
- Expects to operate in Europe, Asia, LatAm by 2025
Reforms target sustained growth in Saudi real estate sector, says Al-Hogail
RIYADH: The Real Estate Future Forum opened its doors for its first day at the Four Seasons Riyadh, with prominent global and local figures coming together to engage with one of the Kingdom’s most prospering sectors.
With new regulations, laws, and investments underway, 2026 is expected to be a year of momentous progress for the real estate sector in the Kingdom.
The forum opened with a video highlighting the sector’s progress in the Kingdom, during which an emphasis was placed on the forum’s ability to create global reach, representation, as well as agreements worth a cumulative $50 billion
With the Kingdom now opening up real estate ownership to foreigners, this year’s Real Estate Future Forum is placing a great deal of importance on this new milestone and its desired outcomes and impact on the market.
Aside from this year’s forum’s unique discussions surrounding those developments, it will also be the first of its kind to launch the Real Estate Excellence Award and announce its finalist during the three-day summit.
Minister of Municipalities and Housing and Chairman of the Real Estate General Authority Majed Al-Hogail took to stage to address the diverse audience on the real estate market’s achievements thus far and its milestones to come.
Of those important milestones, he underscored “real estate balance” as a key pillar of the sector’s decisions to implement regulatory tools “with the aim of constant growth which can maintain the vitality of this sector.” He pointed to examples of those regulatory measures, such as the White Land Tax.
On 2025’s progress, the minister highlighted the jump in Saudi family home ownership, which went from 47 percent in 2016 to 66 percent in 2025, keeping the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 goal of 70 percent by the end of the decade on track.
He said the opening of the real estate market to foreigners is an indicator of the sector’s maturity under the leadership of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. He said his ministry plans to build over 300,000 housing units in Riyadh over the next three years.
Speaking to Arab News, Al-Hogail elaborated on these achievements, stating: “Today, demand, especially local demand, has grown significantly. The mortgage market has reached record levels, exceeding SR900 billion ($240 billion) in mortgage financing, we are now seeing SRC (Saudi Real Estate Refinance Co.) injecting both local and foreign liquidity on a large scale, reaching more than SR54 billion”
Al-Hogail described Makkah and Madinah as unique and special points in the Kingdom’s real estate market as he spoke of the sector’s attractiveness.
“Today, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has become, in international investment indices, one that takes a good share of the Middle East, and based on this, many real estate investment portfolios have begun to come in,” he said.
Al-Ahsa Gov. Prince Saud bin Talal bin Badr Al-Saud told Arab News the Kingdom’s ability to balance both heritage sites with real estate is one of its strengths.
He said: “Actually the real estate market supports the whole infrastructure … the whole ecosystem goes back together in the foundation of the real estate; if we have the right infrastructure we can leverage more on tourism plus we can leverage more on the quality of life … we’re looking at 2030, this is the vision … to have the right infrastructure the time for more investors to come in real estate, entertainment, plus tourism and culture.”
