147,000 square-foot facility in Dubai to meet increased product

demand across Middle East and export markets


Dubai, April 30, 2003: Ajmal Perfumes, the Middle East’s premium fragrance house and perfume retailer, forges ahead with extensive expansion plans, investing AED 17.5 million in a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Dubai. The perfume manufacturing plant, which will be fully operational by the third quarter this year, will comprise two complexes, including an extensive Research and Development (R&D) wing.
 
The new 147,000-square foot manufacturing facility, located in Dubai’s Al Quoz industrial area, will meet Ajmal Perfumes’ increased demand for fragrance products, which has been growing at a steady rate of 25 percent per year for the past three years. In addition to the fully-equipped R&D wing, which will also include the manufacturing units, the plant will house a separate unit for packaging of the full line of fragrance products - designed to complete all production processes from raw materials to fully packaged products. 
 
Ajmal Perfumes’ plans were announced at an exclusive media roundtable by Nazir Ajmal, Marketing Director and Chief Perfumer, Ajmal Perfumes, “Thanks to our phenomenal growth in the region and the increased demand for our products, we needed to invest in a new manufacturing facility to boost our manufacturing capabilities. In turn, our existing plant will be converted into an exclusive Oudh processing and Dahn Al Oudh production facility.”
 
With a strong emphasis on R&D, Ajmal Perfumes plans to invest more than AED 2.5 million in the facility’s key unit. Besides blending and testing processes, part of the R&D function to ensure that the quality of fragrances created conform to the standards set by the Saudi Arabian Standards Organisation (SASO), the authority for ensuring International Quality Standards in the region.
 
Furthermore, Ajmal Perfumes, the only regional perfumery company in the Middle East authorised to issue quality certificates on behalf of SASO since 1997, will continue to analyse perfume products of other manufacturers in the region for compliancy with SASO standards.
 
“The driving force behind our consistent success over the last five decades and the key to our future is our emphasis on quality, coupled with our firm belief in meeting customer demand and setting new trends. It is vital that we remain a few steps ahead in the perfume industry, developing new techniques and working with new ingredients to produce new formulations,” said Abdulla Ajmal, Business Planning and International Operations Manager, Ajmal Perfumes.
 
With the new manufacturing plant, Ajmal’s production capacity will increase by 300 percent, allowing 4 million units of Eau de Parfum per year to be produced, in addition to 3 million units of powder and 1 million units of concentrated perfume. Production capacities of other body line products will also be boosted with the new plant. The facility will feature a range of sophisticated equipment for key processes such as blending and filling imported from Germany. The packaging unit of the plant will be equally advanced and will use the latest techniques in gluing, filling and powder packaging.
 
The production capabilities will meet demand arising from retail expansions throughout the GCC as well as the development of a large distributor network in new markets. As part of the company’s plans for growth, the numbers of retail outlets in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman will be boosted over the next few years and an extensive distributor network in new markets, such as Pakistan, Iran, Morocco, Egypt, India and Europe will soon be in place.
 
Ajmal Perfumes is also set to capitalise on the success of its innovative retail concepts in the UAE - My Inspiration and Ajmal Eternal, by extending their product offering to other parts of the GCC. 
 
-Ends-
 
Note to Editors:
Ajmal, in its 50-year history of creating fragrances, has mastered the art of perfume making and occupies a unique niche in the world of perfumery in the Middle East. Today, Ajmal is a regional corporate entity with a vast portfolio of the finest and most captivating fragrances available in the region. Ajmal has established a strong presence in the Middle East with 65 exclusive retail outlets, including 24 in the UAE, and hundreds of dealerships across the Middle East.
 
For further information, please contact:
Samantha Wood/ Jehad Saleh
ASDA’A Public Relations,
Burson-Marsteller Exclusive affiliate in the Middle East
Dubai,
UAE                  
Tel: +971-4-3344550
Fax: +971-4-3344556
E-mail: info@asdaa.com

© Press Release 2003