By CL Jose
Reports AED109 mn net profit for 2020
DUBAI/February 09-2021: The embattled and capital-starved Drake & Scull International (DSI) has been able to reduce its negative equity and accumulated losses during 2020, even as the company reported a net profit of AED109 million, thanks to AED354 million one-off gain from the disposal of a subsidiary.
The company has earned a gross profit of AED21 million in 2020 compared with a gross profit of AED8 million in 2019. The company made a profit of AED128 million from continuing operations during 2020 compared with a profit of AED234 million in 2019.
More importantly, the total negative equity has marginally improved from AED3.86 billion in 2019 to AED3.75 billion in 2020. During the period under review, the total operating revenue reached AED216 million compared with AED681 million in 2019.
Accumulated loss down
Another significant development during the year has been the marginal drop in the accumulated losses from AED5 billion as of December 31, 2019 to AED4.90 billion as of December 31, 2020.
Operating revenue
DSI recorded operating revenue of AED216 million for the year ended December 2020 with respect to the on-going projects for the group, and the projects backlog remained stable at AED403 million, represented by its on-going operations in the UAE, Germany, Algeria, Kuwait and Iraq.
The reduction in the negative equity and the consistency in earning gross profits have been possible as a result of the perseverance displayed by the executive management of the company.
The restructuring plan for the company is on and the management has been able to reduce various administrative and operational expenses.
Munir Mansour, CEO of DSI, confirmed that the company is keen on the continuity of operations of the group including its subsidiaries, through their on-going projects.
The group’s vital contracts are in the areas of water and energy in several countries, and one of the company’s subsidiaries has won two new projects in Tunisia and India to develop sewage plants.
The company said it is working on expanding its operations in the field of oil and gas and is focusing on completing its project in the city of Al-Zubair in Basra in Iraq.
“We would like to underline that the restructuring process has reached its final stage, and the expert appointed by the Financial Reorganization Committee, Aronite LLC, has invited, through advertisements in local newspapers, creditors of the group to attend the creditors’ meeting to be held on February 25.
