National Marine Dredging Company (NMDC) has reported a slump in profits for the second quarter of the year, citing delays to the start of recently awarded dredging projects in Qatar and Bahrain.
The Abu Dhabi-based dredging company said that its revenues for the March to June period fell by 50 per cent to Dh693 million compared with the same period last year. The decline in revenues led to a loss of Dh155m for the period, compared with a profit of Dh157m in the second quarter of last year.
The company – responsible for dredging works around Abu Dhabi’s corniche, Fujairah Port and Abu Dhabi’s Eastern Mangroves – announced in April that it had been awarded dredging contracts in Bahrain and Qatar worth Dh890m and Dh131m, respectively.
NMDC has not disclosed any further details of the projects, nor the reasons for their delay.
“The company expects to reverse the declining revenue and trend in revenue and profit by the end of the year,” NMDC said in a statement to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) yesterday.
The company also said that it had been awarded fresh projects in Egypt and Oman, on which work had already started. The financial details of the deals were not disclosed.
NMDC’s shares, among the least liquid listed on the ADX, were unchanged in morning trade at Dh7.5. The company’s shares have lost 16.7 per cent of their value since the start of the year.
jeverington@thenational.ae
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