Abu Dhabi contractor National Marine Dredging Company (NMDC) is planning an acquisition in the Gulf region by the end of the year as part of its expansion plans, its group chief executive has said.
It is also targeting other global markets as it continues to look for new opportunities to support growth, Yasser Zaghloul told The National in an interview.
The acquisitions “are related to our business, either marine or dredging or logistics or construction", he said on the sidelines of the Adipec event on Tuesday. Mr Zaghloul did not reveal the total value of the acquisition or any further details.
NMDC, an engineering, procurement, construction 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.
Apart from the Gulf region, the company is also looking for acquisition opportunities in other global markets.
“We are working very hard on this one. We have a screen for all markets, everywhere around us … we have already defined minimal targets and we are working on it.”
The company aims to fund its acquisitions through its own money and support from banks. “Our position is very strong and our partners here, they love always to work with us because of our performance," Mr Zaghloul said. "So we have our partners, financial institutions and banks, as well as our strong cash position."
The company, which is active in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as in Asia and Europe, aims to expand in those markets.
Last month, it signed a preliminary agreement with Vietnam-based Vingroup to undertake large-scale coastal protection and land reclamation projects in the South-east Asian nation.
“We expand in two directions, vertical and horizontal … vertical-wise in activities, horizontal-wise in geographical markets. So we are focusing on all active markets globally and one of the most active markets after GCC is the Far East and Vietnam as well.”
It is also looking for opportunities in African countries including Angola and Uganda.
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 as well as 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 said.
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
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Itcan profile
Founders: Mansour Althani and Abdullah Althani
Based: Business Bay, with offices in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and India
Sector: Technology, digital marketing and e-commerce
Size: 70 employees
Revenue: On track to make Dh100 million in revenue this year since its 2015 launch
Funding: Self-funded to date
HIV on the rise in the region
A 2019 United Nations special analysis on Aids reveals 37 per cent of new HIV infections in the Mena region are from people injecting drugs.
New HIV infections have also risen by 29 per cent in western Europe and Asia, and by 7 per cent in Latin America, but declined elsewhere.
Egypt has shown the highest increase in recorded cases of HIV since 2010, up by 196 per cent.
Access to HIV testing, treatment and care in the region is well below the global average.
Few statistics have been published on the number of cases in the UAE, although a UNAIDS report said 1.5 per cent of the prison population has the virus.
MATCH INFO
Europa League final
Who: Marseille v Atletico Madrid
Where: Parc OL, Lyon, France
When: Wednesday, 10.45pm kick off (UAE)
TV: BeIN Sports
AGL AWARDS
Golden Ball - best Emirati player: Khalfan Mubarak (Al Jazira)
Golden Ball - best foreign player: Igor Coronado (Sharjah)
Golden Glove - best goalkeeper: Adel Al Hosani (Sharjah)
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Fans' Player of the Year: Driss Fetouhi (Dibba)
Golden Boy - best young player: Ali Saleh (Al Wasl)
Best Fans of the Year: Sharjah
Goal of the Year: Michael Ortega (Baniyas)
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
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The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
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Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
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Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Know your cyber adversaries
Cryptojacking: Compromises a device or network to mine cryptocurrencies without an organisation's knowledge.
Distributed denial-of-service: Floods systems, servers or networks with information, effectively blocking them.
Man-in-the-middle attack: Intercepts two-way communication to obtain information, spy on participants or alter the outcome.
Malware: Installs itself in a network when a user clicks on a compromised link or email attachment.
Phishing: Aims to secure personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.
Ransomware: Encrypts user data, denying access and demands a payment to decrypt it.
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Trojans: Create a backdoor into systems, which becomes a point of entry for an attack.
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Worms: Send copies of themselves to other users or contacts. They don't attack the system, but they overload it.
Zero-day exploit: Exploits a vulnerability in software before a fix is found.
New schools in Dubai
Race card for Super Saturday
4pm: Al Bastakiya Listed US$250,000 (Dh918,125) (Dirt) 1,900m.
4.35pm: Mahab Al Shimaal Group 3 $200,000 (D) 1,200m.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The details
Heard It in a Past Life
Maggie Rogers
(Capital Records)
3/5
Brief scores:
Toss: Nepal, chose to field
UAE 153-6: Shaiman (59), Usman (30); Regmi 2-23
Nepal 132-7: Jora 53 not out; Zahoor 2-17
Result: UAE won by 21 runs
Series: UAE lead 1-0
