Displaying items by tag: UAE

Middle East: Cement companies in the Middle East witnessed a 24.3% increase in revenues in the first quarter of 2012 to US$1.26bn as construction picked up in certain parts of the region.

The industry's profits rose to US$435.6m in the second quarter of the 2012 financial year, compared to US$359.5m in 2011, a growth of 21.2%. However, according to Global Investment House's report, net margins suffered a fall during the period.

UAE and Oman reported higher revenues due to the better operating environments in both countries. The sales revenue of UAE firms increased by 7.7% to US$258.1m, bringing gross margin back to double digits at 10.5%.

Rizwan Sajan, chairman of Danube Building Materials, said that the UAE construction industry had started to pick up. "The second quarter of this year was much better than the first quarter on positive signs in the UAE," Sajan said. Omani companies witnessed a 16.7% increase in revenue to US$100.3m.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia achieved strong growth of 34.7% in revenue during the quarter, outperforming the UAE, Qatar and Oman. Saudi Arabia is witnessing a significant rise in demand because of its development plan. In March 2011 King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz ordered the construction of 500,000 housing units, as well as the building and expansion of hospitals. He also ordered the injection of capital into specialised credit institutions to facilitate debt write-offs and increase mortgage lending.

It is expected that Saudi Arabia's cement demand will strengthen in 2013, with US$24bn of transport projects under way or in the pipeline. The Haramain High Speed Railway has taken centre stage, with the final contract for the project, worth US$1.4bn, awarded in July 2011. Attention should now turn to the US$7bn Saudi Landbridge project, an east-west rail line that will link Jeddah and Dammam.

UAE: The Kuwait-based paper manufacturer Shuaiba Industrial Company has announced the completion of its 100%-owned cement bag plant in Jebel Ali in the UAE. The facility, which has a total cost of US$13.1m will have an annual production capacity of 80 million cement bags. The company used its own funds to finance the plant.

Kuwait: Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) cement companies have emerged from two years of decline following the credit crisis with a strong 14.2% increase in revenue, according to a report by Global Investment House. Sector profits, however, increased by 2.7% in 2011. Revenues reached US$4.6bn in 2011 compared to US$4bn in 2010. Net profits increased from US$1.44bn in 2010 to US$1.48bn in 2011.

By country, Saudi Arabia, Oman, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait overturned declining revenues in 2010 and all four countries reported increasing sales for 2011 except Qatar. UAE, which witnessed declining sales revenue since 2008, enjoyed a 5.9% increase in sales to reach US$940m. Yet net profit was negative for the first time since the researchers started to compile UAE cement data.

Oman witnessed a 12.8% increase in sales revenue reaching US$342.3m in 2011, the second highest revenue in Oman's cement history. However Oman reported a 39.4% decrease in profits in 2011. Kuwait reported a 5.4% increase in revenue reaching US$66.9m in 2011, but it posted a 47.1% decrease in net profits compared to 2010. Qatar was the only GCC country reporting declining sales and profits. Saudi Arabia posted a healthy 22.6% increase in sales revenue and a 25.2% increase in net profits in 2011.

According to Saudi government officials, Saudi Arabia will spend an estimated US$400bn on large infrastructure projects from 2012 until 2017. Ever since the country banked upon diversification, the cement sector witnessed a tremendous pick up in demand from less than 20Mt in 2005 to 49Mt in 2011. In the wake of increasing demand locally, the government imposed a conditional ban on cement exports in 2010 that further pushed demand. Saudi Arabia lifted a ban on cement imports in March 2012 and neighbouring exporter nations, Oman and the UAE, are expected to benefit greatly from the change.

UAE: On 13 June 2011 Lafarge Emirates Cement inaugurated its first distribution centre in the region, in cooperation with Al Saeed AL Zaabi General Trading. The new centre in the Mussaffah Industrial Area in Abu Dhabi was inaugurated by Antoine Duclaux, CEO of Lafarge Emirates Cement in the presence of many of the company's strategic partners.

Duclaux said that the new 350m2 showroom in Mussaffah Industrial Area was a big achievement and that Lafarge Emirates was contributing to the growth of the construction growth market by offering its quality products in the UAE.

Adham El-Sharkawy, Commercial Director at Lafarge Emirates Cement said that the facility would present a new 'shopping experience' to cement end users by offering a full range of high quality products and various other building materials products under one roof in a highly modern showroom.