CGS holds 45% of automotive solutions market: CEO

Peter Faerber CEO of Consolidated Grünenfelder Saady Holding Co. (CGS)

Peter Faerber, CEO of Consolidated Grünenfelder Saady Holding Co. (CGS), said the company holds around 45% of the automotive solutions market in Saudi Arabia and is expanding its presence in the commercial, industrial, medical, and defense cooling sectors.

In an interview with Argaam, Faerber added that the company’s scope of work goes beyond transport cooling to include the design, manufacturing, and installation of integrated cooling systems used in cold rooms, storage warehouses, and process cooling systems. He noted that its clients include major companies such as Almarai Co. and Theeb Rent a Car Co.

The company is the only local manufacturer accredited by the Ministry of Health and the Saudi Red Crescent Authority for the production of ambulances, and it also provides advanced engineering solutions for the telecommunications, oil and gas, and defense sectors.

The top executive said the company has achieved strong financial performance over the past three years, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in revenues of 40% between 2023 and 2025, driven by rising demand for its products and services and the expansion of its customer base across multiple sectors.

Here are details of the interview:

Q: Who is Consolidated Grünenfelder Saady Holding Company (CGS)? What are its most prominent business segments and business model in the market?

A: CGS is a Swiss-Saudi joint venture, that offers a unique value proposition as a local engineering company that blends global best practices with Saudi scale to provide best in class solutions across automotive refrigeration, stationary refrigeration, customized solutions, and dedicated after-market services.

The Company began operations in 1976G and is one of the leaders in the refrigeration sector in the Kingdom, with over 3,000 customers across critical industries including the food and beverage, and pharmaceutical sectors.

CGS is a pioneer in cold chain solutions, with a particular focus on advanced refrigeration, customized refrigerated transport solutions, vehicle body conversions such as Ambulance vehicles, specialized mobile units and the design and manufacturing of complex units / shelters and proudly partners with leading organizations such as Almarai, Nada, Nupco, Al Dawaa, Saudia, Thales (Defense) and Saudi Red Crescent to support their needs.

Q: What is the size of the market in which the company currently operates in Saudi Arabia? How do you distribute your business between the industrial, commercial and retail segments?

A: CGS is a market leader in the refrigeration sector in the Kingdom, with an average market share of approximately 45% in Automotive Solutions, an area we expect to grow under Saudi Vision 2030.

The Company’s product portfolio goes beyond transport refrigeration, with solutions catering to commercial, industrial, and semi-industrial refrigeration systems, from cold rooms and process cooling to large cold storage. The company engineers’ design, manufacture, and install solutions that are sold to operators such as Almarai, Theeb and others.

We also provide other engineered solutions for sectors such as medical including ambulances where we are the only Saudi ambulance maker that meets Ministry of Health and Saudi Red Crescent required standards; telecom, where we provide communications shelters; oil and gas, where we provide self-contained Manpower Camps for drilling, and defence where we provide secure communications vehicles and highly complex command shelters for defence and security forces.

Q: To what extent does the company rely on local manufacturing as opposed to importing from abroad?

A: CGS has invested significantly in developing engineering expertise within the Kingdom, establishing state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in Riyadh, equipped with cutting edge equipment such as open-pouring panel technology, robotics, 3D printing, virtual reality, and adopting industry 4.0 technology.

We are the only company in the Middle East that operates an open pouring methodology in sandwich panel production, which ensures highly consistent panels in terms of thermal insulation and mechanical properties, enabling CGS to build bodies with superior total cost of ownership.

Q: How do you assess the level of demand for industrial cooling systems in light of the major projects being implemented under the Saudi Vision 2030?

A: We are closely aligned with Saudi Arabia’s growth story under Saudi Vision 2030, with the growth in the food and beverage, agriculture, and healthcare sectors being instrumental in maintaining strong demand for refrigerated transport solutions.

There is also a growing demand for commercial and industrial refrigeration solutions, fuelled by ongoing expansion and sustained investments across Saudi Arabia’s industrial ecosystem, with Saudi Vision 2030, The National Industrial Development and Logistics Program (NIDLP) and food self-sufficiency initiatives, driving these changes.

With the population growth targets in Saudi Arabia, there will be an increase in demand for the Food & Beverage sector, with increased poultry and meat products and the localization of meat processing requiring more refrigeration solutions.

Localization requirements for defence spending will also benefit CGS, with its superior engineering capabilities.

Q: How has the company's financial performance evolved in recent years? Could you highlight the key changes in the company's operational and financial indicators?

A: We have delivered strong financial results over the last three years, with consistent profitability, achieving revenue CAGR of 40% between financial year 2023G and 2025G, driven by increased demand for our products and services.

Our company financial year finishes in March, so we have already declared our Q1 results, and are in the process of finalizing our H1 numbers.

Our revenue is typically more concentrated towards the second half of our financial year. Last year, however, revenue was more weighted to the first half due to atypical timing of received orders leading to a lower like for like comparison in Q1 of this year.

The order book for financial year 2026 is more heavily weighted towards the second half, in line with previous years, and we therefore expect to achieve our financial guidance for the full year.

We have good visibility on the current backlog throughout this year, which is sufficient to deliver the results of FY 2026, with enough backlog being carried forward into FY 2027 and partially into FY 2028, where we expect to continue to achieve growth across key metrics. Our visibility over the diversification of future revenues allows us to create value for shareholders through a balance of growth and dividends.

Q: What are the company's future investment plans, whether in new production lines or geographical expansion inside and outside the Kingdom?

A: We are aiming to build one of Saudi Arabia’s most advanced manufacturing facilities, by investing in a new, high-tech manufacturing facility in Al Kharj Industrial City, which will adopt the latest production technology, featuring Industry 4.0 upgrades on control and process digitalization and establish dedicated production lines for ambulances, defence and logistics.

What this means for us in the near term, is that we are able to nearly double the capacity in our Automotive segment to 8,000 units, with the infrastructure to scale up to 16,000 units in the future, or in our customized solutions segment where we will expand capacity and grow from 1,350 units to 3,450.

Q: What are the most prominent strategic directions of the company during the next three years?

A: We have a clear strategic roadmap, which sets out how we intend to grow over the medium term. Our IPO supports our ability to deliver this and does not change the strategy.

Once the IPO is completed, we will continue to implement this strategy, maintaining our manufacturing leadership position, expanding our product range to expand our customer base and focus our efforts on continuing to improve our operational efficiency by leveraging lean manufacturing capabilities and energy efficient solutions.

We will continue to target growth within our existing core sectors as well as develop new products such as customized solutions for the medical, defence, telecom, and oil & gas industries.

There are some exciting additional growth drivers coming to the market, such as favorable regulatory reforms from the Saudi Food & Drug Authority, with regulatory tightening across a number of areas. These changes will likely increase demand for the refrigeration segment where we are well placed to take advantage of the reforms as the leader in the sector.