UAE’s Arabtec plans to reduce costs, focus on construction

Arabtec Holding Co., the biggest-listed construction company in the United Arab Emirates, plans to cut costs and focus on its core business after reporting its first annual loss in February amid a building slowdown in the country. “There is fat to be taken out, there is room for cost cuts,” Mohamed Thani Al Rumaithi, the company’s chairman told reporters Wednesday after its annual general assembly in Abu Dhabi. Asked whether there will be job cuts, he said, “What is extra will be taken out.” He said the project pipeline makes him “confident” that the company will return to profit in 2017. “Maybe we break even in 2016,” he said. Shares of the company, which is building a branch of the Louvre museum in Abu Dhabi, have rebounded since their 2015 low in December but remain 75% below their May 2014 high. Arabtec was at the centre of a stock selloff that wiped a fifth from Dubai’s benchmark index in June 2014 amid a reshuffle of senior management and investor concern that the company was losing support from the Abu Dhabi government. Al Romaithi, who represents the company’s biggest shareholder, Aabar Investments PJSC, said Arabtec will focus on its core construction business as it eyes entering the Indian market and strengthening its presence in Saudi Arabia. “We are a construction company, we will concentrate on construction,” he said. (By Mahmoud Habboush/Bloomberg)

More from Business

  • Dubai's GDP reaches AED 339b in first nine months of 2024

    Dubai's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 3.1 per cent in the first nine months of 2024, compared to the same period in 2023, reaching AED 339.4 billion.

  • DP World’s container handling hits record high in 2024

    DP World’s ports and terminals handled a record 88.3 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2024, up 8.3 per cent year-on-year despite macroeconomic headwinds and concerns over the outlook for global trade.

  • TECOM reports AED1.2 billion net profit

    TECOM Group PJSC on Thursday announced a record AED2.4 billion in revenue, representing an 11 per cent year-on-year (YoY) increase, resulting in a 14 per cent YoY increase in net profit to AED1.2 billion for the financial year ending December 31, 2024 (FY 2024).

  • UAE launches ‘Green Intellectual Property’ roadmap

    The UAE Ministry of Economy launched a roadmap on Thursday for "Green Intellectual Property (IP)" designed to foster innovation, accelerate technology localisation, and develop new projects in the new economy, environmental sustainability, and circular economy.

  • Ex-UK PM Tony Blair to speak at WGS

    Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair will join world leaders and leading figureheads from global organisations as part of an expanded World Governments Summit, set to take place in Dubai from February 11-13.