Page 61 - September 2020

Building Materials

UAE’s Arkan says that group

revenue fell to $105mnin H1 2020 due to

COVID-19 crisis

Dhabi Government’s ‘Electricity Tariff Incentive
Programme’, which supports the industrial sector.
In parallel to these programmes, the company said
that it focused on maintaining its market share by
securing supply to all active projects.
Announcing its consolidated H1 results, Arkan said
it remained profi table with a net profi t of $571,746
for the fi rst six months despite the pandemic and
its negative impact on the building material sector.
However, this was compared to a net profi t of
Arkan Building Materials Company, the UAE- $2.31 million last year, before one off gains of
based supplier, has said that its group revenue $6.88 million from the sale of scrap assets at the
for the fi rst half of 2020 fell to $105 million from Emirates Cement Factory and proceeds from an
$125 million the previous year, primarily due to the insurance claim in the Cement Division.
limitations resulting from the measures taken to While the company’s cement, dry mortar and
counter the spread of the COVID-19 corona virus. blocks businesses were negatively affected by
The decrease in revenue was offset by rigorous the pandemic with a marked slowdown in sales
cost saving programs that covered vital processes, despite solid order pipeline; revenues from
such as raw material prices negotiation, reduced Arkan’s GRP Pipes segment doubled to $11.78
outsourcing services, reduced manpower cost, million, versus H1 2019, due to signifi cant market
higher effi ciencies in energy utilization, coupled share gains. This has again shown the value of a
with lower electricity cost as a result of the Abu broader diversifi ed business.
RAK Ceramics reports second quarter loss as

pandemic dampens demand

mitigate the impact of corona virus has resulted in
early signs of recovery from June onwards across
the business.
Production has restarted in Bangladesh and India
in June and July in phases; however, the tableware
business has been severely impacted due to the
slowdown in the hospitality and airline industries
and is currently operating at 65% capacity.
In the UAE, production lines were optimized to
meet demand. From July, UAE production began
running at optimal capacity due to an increase in
demand from Saudi Arabia.
RAK Ceramics pointed out that its revenue in
RAK Ceramics has registered a total revenue of all markets except Saudi Arabia was negatively
AED 411.3 million ($112 million) down 37.3 per impacted due to Covid-19 in the second quarter.
cent year on year due to the Covid-19 lockdowns There was a decrease in revenue in April and
in India, Bangladesh and across Europe. May as the business began to feel the impact
Announcing its fi nancial results for the quarter of lockdowns and reduced demand in the
ended June 30, RAK Ceramics said its construction, hospitality and airline industries, said
implementation of operational measures to the statement from RAK Ceramics.

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