Arabtec shares rise on back of contracts worth Dh747m

The subsidiary of Abu Dhabi developer lands three deals.

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Shares in Arabtec Holding, the UAE's largest construction group, climbed 2.1 per cent to Dh1.97 (53 US cents) yesterday after the company said its subsidiary, Target Engineering Construction, had won three contracts in Abu Dhabi worth Dh747 million. Target Engineering, an Abu Dhabi company in which Arabtec bought a 60 per cent stake in 2007, has been awarded projects for civil engineering, construction and commissioning works, Arabtec said.

They bring the total value of contracts won by the unit so far this year to Dh1.6bn. The new awards will boost Arabtec's project order book, which shrank by about Dh6bn last year because of project cancellations. The company posted a 17 per cent drop in first-quarter profit compared with the same period last year. One of the new deals, worth Dh170m and awarded by GS Engineering and Construction (GS E&C), a South Korean contractor, involves civil works as part of the Ruwais Refinery expansion project.

A second project, worth Dh251m, was awarded by the same company at the same project for structural work and equipment installation. The third contract, awarded by a joint venture between Petrofac and GS E&C, is for structural and mechanical work at the Ruwais project. That contract is worth Dh326m. Arabtec is also expected to receive by the end of this month overdue payments from Nakheel, the indebted property developer owned by Dubai World, said Riad Kamal, the company's chief executive.

Arabtec agreed to an offer from Nakheel to pay it 40 per cent of money owed in cash and 60 per cent in the form of a publicly tradable security with a 10 per cent annual return. @Email:agiuffrida@thenational.ae