Egypt’s Orascom Development Holding (ODH) has achieved record-high net real estate sales of EGP 3.47 bn in FY 2018, excluding its newest residential project O West, compared to sales of EGP 2.19 bn a year earlier, Invest-Gate reports.

Real estate revenues recorded an 80.6% surge to EGP 2.2 bn in FY 2018 versus EGP 1.2 bn in the prior year, ODH said in a released statement on April 5. The developer also noted that the rise in sales has more than doubled its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) to record EGP 1.2 bn, corresponding to a solid operating margin of 20.6%.

ODH highlighted that O West, its first home project in west Cairo, has marked an “excellent start” with sales of EGP 2.19 bn during its soft launch phase, which will be recognized in the company’s Q1 2019 results.

O West’s official launch commenced in March 2019 and includes 340 fully-finished housing units, ranging from apartments and duplexes to penthouses and lofts, with a total inventory of EGP 1.2 bn and an average selling price of EGP 18,098 per square meter.

As for El Gouna, Orascom’s flagship town on the east coast of the Red Sea, exceeded the company’s target for 2018 and recorded a 40.8% increase in net real estate sales to EGP 1.93 bn, compared to EGP 1.73 bn a year ago.

“Throughout 2018, [ODH] launched two new projects ‘Ancient Sands Villas’ and ‘Cyan’ along with the last phase of ‘Tawila’ all for a total inventory of USD 111.2 mn, and have successfully sold them all out,” read the statement.

According to the statement, El Gouna’s real estate revenues climbed by 53% to log EGP 1.11 bn in FY 2018 versus EGP 726.8 mn in the prior year.

Meanwhile, the property developer revealed that its hotel revenues swelled by 19.0% in FY 2018 and reached EGP 2.71 bn, accompanied by a 32.1% hike in gross operating profit (GOP) to EGP 1.02 bn versus EGP 775.4 mn in FY 2017.