These include the industrial sector, telecommunications, food and agriculture sector, real estate, as well as the contracting and healthcare fields. Today, it is conducting business, through its subsidiaries and affiliates, across the entire Middle East region.
The new social wave sweeping through Saudi Arabia is transforming the quality of life to something more superior and sustainable than what has existed so far. The government along with corporate partners such as ASTRA is complying with international quality controls and assurance standards in all production and distribution.
With the passing of time, research and new technology developments at ASTRA have attained cost-efficiency without compromising on excellence. One such benchmark would be the expansion in less water-intense sectors such as trade and communication.
Within a couple of decades, ASTRA grew from a company focused on contracting, to a holding group, which is operating in a wide variety of industries. Although ASTRA was originally based in Tabuk, it now has operations throughout the entire Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as well as MENA. The company’s success is outstanding, as it now ranks 23rd among the top 100 Saudi companies employing more than 5,000 employees.
The ASTRA group is committed to delivering best-in-class products and services. It operates within stringent quality control and assurance measures, adhering to both national and international standards, as well as to the group’s strict quality policies. ASTRA has always believed in maintaining a balance between a lean cost structure and excellence in quality. It has been able to accomplish this goal through the use of new technology and efficient management practices, which have allowed ASTRA to become a fierce challenger and raise the bar in whichever field it operates in.
Dynamic Business Spectrum
From polymers to plastics, steels to construction materials, ASTRA’s umbrella partakes in the most radical developments in the country. With each of them adding to multi-tier growth of the economy, the company has successfully diversified outside its comfort zone of agro-based businesses. It welcomed the real estate boom by undertaking property development of luxury housing compounds; its Cordoba and Hamra housing compounds stand out as the paramount of such facilities in the Kingdom.
Along with its community hospital, ASTRA began manufacturing generic high quality pharmaceuticals in 1995 at its Tabuk Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Company. This local produce of medicine was reasonable, challenging the predominance of expensive imported drugs in the Kingdom.
Nour Communication Company, an entrant in the ASTRA family in 1988, was set up to improve telecommunications in the Kingdom. Today it’s a significant participant in media, engineering, surveying and installation developments including the world’s biggest and most advanced and fully computerized digital radio network for Saudi Arabia. Additionally, Nour entered into the power sector and is a major player in the power rental sector.
Accomplishments
ASTRA met the ultimate test of its capabilities with flying colors when it served all joint forces participating in the liberation of Kuwait. This entailed providing over a million soldiers with fresh and cooked food on 24 hour basis across the Kingdom and battlefield locations.
ASTRA is the proud winner of the Arab Agricultural Award for its water, soil and tissue analyses according to US and Dutch standards.
It was the first company to introduce quails in the Saudi market soon holding the biggest quail farm in the world with a capacity of 12 million birds a year. It won the Quail Quality Award from Italy in 1995.
Astra has shown a steady growth year on year, fuelled by its investment into manufacturing and the diversification of its operations.
Turning Point
In 2002, ASTRA holding undertook the biggest re-structuring effort in the company history, where smaller, common businesses were merged together to create economies of scale. This massive endeavor streamlined all the activities within the multitude of companies and allowed ASTRA to emerge as a more robust, resilient and efficient holding group it is today.
Moreover, it allowed for the ASTRA Industrial Group to be formed and to become a publicly listed company. ASTRA Food Company was also formed and is currently undergoing the same efforts to become a publicly listed company as well.
Corporate Philosophy
ASTRA Group is committed to provide high quality products and services, addressing their customers’ changing need and creating value in a way which enriches their life, exceeding their expectation, enabling us to build a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship.
Moreover, ASTRA’s Vision is to promote the concept of ‘self-sufficiency’, as adopted by the Group founder. ASTRA aims to set new standards in the various industries which it operates in.
Recent Highlights
ASTRA has shown a trend of consistent growth over the past few years. This is due to its investment in manufacturing as well as the main group re-structuring which allowed operations to be more streamlined across the group.
Despite the global financial crisis, ASTRA was able to obtain bank facilities and continue expanding, as a result of its impeccable credit history. This is a particularly notable achievement especially in the difficult economic climate.
Current Challenges
Due to its sheer size and the fact that it operates in more than one industry, the ASTRA group of companies, like many others, has been negatively affected by the global economic crisis. ASTRA is looking forward to the recovery period and to a renewed economic zeal, furthering the company’s growth prospect.
ASTRA also faces difficulty in sourcing qualified human resources capable of sustaining the competitiveness of the company. Lastly, it also is weary of local and regional governmental regulatory changes which might pose a potential risk to the business.
Future Outlook
In line with the formation of the ASTRA Industrial Group, Astra’s main focus is down-stream industrial sector. This has proven to be a major success story for Astra and we believe that it will continue to be an attractive sector.
This means investing in green field projects, partnering with technology providers and M&A transactions. Focusing on the Industrial Group has brought great rewards for the ASTRA group and it is our intention to continue growing this business sector.
In addition, we also aim to focus on the Real Estate sector. Examples like the Cordoba and Hamra Compounds have proven to be extremely successful and we plan to continue our expansion in that sector. Moreover, we plans are also underway for extensive real estate development projects like the Ayla Oasis and the Aqaba Jordan project.
We look forward to a bright future as we continue to focus on our core competency of best-in-class products and services.