Dubai’s Drake & Scull posts 22% rise in Q2 profits

Dubai-based contractor Drake & Scull International (DSI) on Thursday posted a 22 percent rise in second-quarter net profits to $15m, aided by a slew of overseas contract wins. Revenues increased 79 percent to $201m. The company’s backlog rose by 56 percent against the same period last year to just over $2bn. The company\'s backlog at the end of June was AED7.5bn.The company’s CFO, Osama Hamdan said that the results had been achieved despite “significant administrative costs and set-up costs” during the first half, related to recent acquisitions. “The acquisitions contributed to the growth in revenues, however the transactions incurred to finance and complete the acquisitions affected the net margins respectively,” he said. “Once the acquisitions and expansion costs are fully rendered we expect higher top line and particularly bottom line growth.” Drake, whose biggest market is Saudi Arabia, has been rapidly expanding its operations outside Dubai, where house prices have plunged some 60 percent since their peaks in 2008 as a result of the financial crisis.The company secured $925m worth of projects in the first half from Oman, Egypt, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Asia and Europe.Its latest contract win was a $46m deal, signed in July, to provide MEP works for a hospital in Abu Dhabi.“We are satisfied with our revenue growth in the MEP and the civil business which recorded a year over year growth of 43% and 376% respectively,” said DSI CEO Khaldoun Tabari, in a company statement.   From / Arabian Business News