Drake & Scull International, the Dubai-based engineering contractor, has won two orders in Abu Dhabi worth more than Dh182 million (US$49m) as the company seeks to expand from its Dubai base. The contract awards coincided with the disclosure that the company's chief financial officer has resigned. But the news did not dampen investor sentiment as its stock finished the day 1.2 per cent higher. The company did not give a reason for Khaled Jarrar's resignation but said a replacement would be announced shortly.
Drake & Scull said it had been awarded a Dh64m contract to provide engineering services to Rotana's Centro Hotel at the Capital Centre in Abu Dhabi. The company's newly created water and power division has also picked up a Dh118m deal to develop a district cooling plant at Khalifa A City. "This great start to 2010 has created a stable platform on which to build what DSI hopes to be a prominent client portfolio in the year ahead, while offering continual growth for our investors," said Khaldoun Tabari, the vice president and chief executive of DSI.
Since listing its shares on the Dubai Financial Market early last year, DSI has won a number of contracts in the Middle East and North Africa and has also been on an acquisition drive for what it sees as undervalued companies as it seeks to take advantage of the global construction slowdown. In December, it paid Dh80.5m to increase its stake in Kuwait's Electrical Contracting to 75 per cent. The acquisition came a month after the firm paid Dh145m for an 82 per cent stake in Passavant-Roediger, a unit of Germany's Bilfinger Berger.
With a cash pile of about Dh500m to fund purchases DSI also plans to acquire a firm in Qatar. "Our interest lies in acquiring companies that already have prominence in their own markets and an in-depth understanding of how their markets operate," added Tabari. The company, which has more than Dh5 billion worth of projects across the Middle East and North Africa, has weathered the global economic downturn better than rivals who were overexposed to residential building, which has slowed dramatically this year as developers cancelled some projects and slowed payment on others
agiuffrida@thenational.ae