CKR aims to extend total revenue by 15% in 2012

Stefano Riccardi says CKR Consulting is targetting 15% revenue growth in 2012 (ITP Images)

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CKR Consulting intends to increase its total revenue by 15% in 2012, while it aims to boost profitability by 5%, the managing director of the South African firm told MEP Middle East.

Stefano Riccardi said that the GCC would play a prominent path in the growth of his company over the next year, along with operations in India and Africa. The company plans to open an office in Doha by March of 2012, while it has recently opened a second office in Kerala, India.

“I won’t be able to give you exact figures, but in comparison to figures released in 2010, we increased our revenue over all by about 13%. In terms of profitability, we increased that by around 5%,” Riccardi said.

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“I would estimate that 60% of that increase in revenue last year was due to the GCC and the UAE. Even if everybody talks about the GCC having slowed down a lot, (we’ve found) that because of the way we wanted to reinvent ourselves, we’ve managed to still grow our revenue (in 2011),” he added.

Riccardi said that the Qatar office deal was close to completion, with the sponsorship deal in the process of being finalised. He added that the ‘strong sponsor’ they had tied up an agreement with would help the company grow throughout the region.

“It would be adding an additional shareholder to our company, but with a strong sponsor, we see the potential growth spreading to other regions as well, just because the sponsor has got an influence in those other countries,” he explained.

Furthermore, he said he expected Bahrain and Saudi Arabia to be particularly fruitful over the course of the year. This was especially true for Bahrain, as he felt it would be looking to develop following the recent unrest in the country.

“Our perspective is that it’s a pretty stable country. Yes, it has had their setbacks, but I think they’ll be strong enough to go forwards in the future. It was a target a few years back, but because of the booms that have happened in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, I suppose we really haven’t had the right people to take it forward, into the environment.”

“Now, with a little bit more time on our hands, we can plan things a little bit better,” he said.