Arkan Building Materials Company (ABMC) reported that it achieved a net revenue of AED676.9m (US$184.3m) in 9M18 compared to AED677.6m during the 9M17. The growth in pipes, blocks and dry mortar sales offset the decline in clinker sales. Clinker sales were impacted by stiff competition, cheap imports from Iran and a slowdown in summer construction.
Higher production costs also affected ABMC's profit margins, as the plant continued to import limestone from Oman, while a sustainable solution with the authorities to restart mining at the Al Ain quarry remains unresolved.
Commenting on the results, Jamal Salem Al Dhaheri, chairman of Arkan, said: "We are currently having on-going discussions with the authorities to resolve our quarry issue in Al Ain, which, once resolved, will eliminate our need of importing limestone from Oman and help in reducing our cost of production.
"We continue to implement our strategy of developing a diversified portfolio of products that balances our business through market cycles and we are pleased to see significant growing interest in our specialist products, especially pipes and dry mortar. Pricing across our cement division remains challenging and we are looking forward to seeing the construction market improve as expected by the latter part of this year.”
The group is currently in the process of selling Emirates Cement Factory's assets.
