Sixth of October Development and Investment Company (SODIC) logged a 25% uptick in residential contractual sales in Q1 2020, registering EGP 842 mn versus EGP 672 mn in the year-ago period, driven mainly by its west Cairo projects, Invest-Gate reports.

“West Cairo contributed 70% of sales for the quarter driven by the strong performance of VYE, the company’s newest project in its home market of west Cairo. VYE represented 45% of SODIC’s sales during the period. On the other hand, 30% of the company’s sales came from projects in east Cairo, mainly from Villette which generated 20% of the quarter’s gross contracted sales,” read the company’s press release on June 15.

Likewise, revenues stood at EGP 429 mn during the first three months of 2020, compared to EGP 941 mn in the corresponding period last year, owing to handovers in east Cairo which amount to 60% of deliveries during the period, with properties in west Cairo representing 38%.

“SODIC delivered some 100 units during the quarter. East Cairo projects accounted for 61 of the delivered units, while also delivering 37 and two units in west Cairo and the North Coast, respectively. This compares to 201 units delivered in Q1 2019, as a lower number of deliveries were planned for the period, with the majority of expected unit deliveries for 2020 are scheduled for later during the year,” the developer noted. 

However, the Egypt-based company reported an “exceptionally high cancelations rate,” in the wake of the Coronavirus woes, standing at 22% of gross sales in Q1 2020, compared to 12% in the prior-year period, the statement confirmed.

Commenting on the results, Magued Sherif, the company’s managing director, highlighted, “The world entered 2020 with a new challenge to respond to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic … Driven by our strong corporate citizenship, SODIC has allocated some EGP 5 mn in initiatives related to the crisis. We have donated ventilators and monitors to Sheikh Zayed Specialized Hospital, Sheikh Zayed General Hospital, and Imbaba General Hospital.”

“We have coordinated with the Ministry of Health to commission portable quarantine units for Abbassia Fever Hospital and Mansoura Chest Hospital, as well as to equip hospital rooms in Mahala Fever Hospital to serve as complete isolation units. Furthermore, we have distributed protection and immunity-boosting packages in Ezebt Khairallah. We are all in this together,” Sherif concluded.