RAK Ceramics continued to pare its profit as it refocuses its strategy away from non-core businesses.
During the third quarter, profit attributable to owners of the company fell 15 per cent year on year to Dh61 million from Dh71.9m.
Group revenues fell 10 per cent year on year during the quarter to Dh823.2m.
For the first nine months of the year its non-core revenues fell 31.8 per cent to Dh363m while its core business of tiles, ceramics and sanitary ware was flat compared with a year earlier at Dh2.12 billion.
“This year was a year of restructuring our non-core business which was within our strategy,” said Abdallah Massaad, the chief executive of the Abu Dhabi-listed RAK Ceramics.
“We would focus on UAE and Saudi Arabia operations and in the expansion in India, Bangladesh and Ras Al Khaimah for the next quarter, and next year. It took a bit longer than expected to set up offices in Saudi Arabia, and since September business has started to pick up at a fast clip.” Its major growth market remained the UAE where it increased revenues by 20 per cent year on year.
The company’s net debt stands at Dh1.5bn. The shares closed unchanged at Dh3.26 each. They are up 14.2 per cent on the year.
A previously discussed initial public offering in India was not yet on the cards, according to Mr Massaad.
In 2010, RAK Ceramics said it was planning a share sale of its India subsidiary to raise money to fund a factory there.
The company has a plant in southern India and has plans for another in the northern part of the country, said Mr Massaad.
The company took a Dh46.8m hit in the quarter after currency devaluation in Iran and Sudan, where it already has operations.
RAK Ceramics opened a factory in Iran in 2004 with funding from the International Finance Corporation, the World Bank arm that funds private-sector ventures.
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