Abu Dhabi's NMDC extends services to more sectors with new logistics unit

Abu Dhabi contractor National Marine Dredging Company has formed a new business unit focused on logistics and technical services, further diversifying its services portfolio to help shield it from market volatility.

The newly created NMDC LTS will help expand services beyond its continuing support for the group’s other business units to clients in the construction and industrial sectors, the company announced on the sidelines of the inaugural Abu Dhabi Business Week on Wednesday.

The LTS arm – which will join NMDC's other marine, engineering, construction and procurement business segments – aims to help more customers and partners tap into the company's capabilities, it said. With a number of key players in the competitive sector, the move will help NMDC address client-specific needs, group chief executive Yasser Zaghloul said at a round-table.

"It fits very well with our strategy of diversifying our portfolio [and becoming a] real global international group," he said. It will also help NMDC take on "the risk of instability" in its markets, "when one goes down and one goes up", he added.

"That's why we focus on this to have a diversified portfolio ... NMDC LTS will be a platform that gives new partners access to one of the biggest construction logistics and technical services operators in the region."

NMDC, an EPC and marine dredging contractor, completed a merger with Abu Dhabi's National Petroleum Construction Company, creating NMDC Energy in 2021.

In September, NMDC Energy was listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange after raising Dh3.22 billion ($877 million) from the sale of 1.15 billion shares, representing 23 per cent of its total share capital.

The company has a backlog of more than Dh72 billion in contracts as of June and is working on global tenders worth Dh76 billion domestically and globally for works related to marine construction, dredging and other activities.

Its biggest clients include Adnoc, Saudi Aramco, Kuwait Oil Company, Abu Dhabi-based Modon Properties and Abu Dhabi Ports.

In August, it was awarded a contract worth more than $200 million by Adnoc for marine dredging works at the Ruwais LNG project. It also secured another contract of $254.6 million from Adnoc Gas in July for an extension of the pipeline to supply gas in the Northern Emirates.

NMDC reported a 16 per cent annual increase in its third-quarter net profit to Dh731 million as revenue grew 50 per cent annually on the back of a robust project pipeline.

For the nine-month period, profit grew 45 per cent on an annual basis to Dh2.19 billion surpassing profit for the whole of the past year and the “trend will continue going up", Mr Zaghloul had said.

Mr Zaghloul had also hinted to The National last month that it is planning an acquisition in the Gulf region by the end of this year as part of its expansion plans.

It is also targeting other global markets as it continues to look for new opportunities to support growth. The acquisitions “are related to our business, either marine or dredging or logistics or construction", he said.

NMDC did not discuss any acquisition plans at Abu Dhabi Business Week.