UAE-based Arkan Building Materials Company has reported revenues of Dh596 million ($162 million) for the first nine months of 2016, marking a drop from Dh666.4 million ($181 million) for the same period last year.

A leading construction and building materials company in the UAE, Arkan said it managed to increase the sales volumes in most of the divisions, despite challenging market conditions with a lower projects pipeline in the company’s captive market.

However, the continuous decrease in market prices since the beginning of the year led to the variance, it stated.

According to Arkan, the management has increased operational efficiencies across all business units by boosting the production on one hand and reducing the cost on the other hand, particularly in the fields of energy consumption, maintenance and procurement.

Industrial waste was introduced to substitute minerals in the production of cement and blocks, achieving substantial savings while preserving the environment, it added.

Arkan chairman Jamal Salem Al Dhaheri said: "Sustainable growth was and will continue to be the backbone of our strategy, and I am delighted with the efforts of the management team to continuously gain further market share and contain cost in this challenging market environment."

"This resulted in the group’s gross profit margin increasing to 26 per cent, leading to two per cent increase compared to last year," he added.

The group achieved a net profit of Dh54.8 million, as projected. During the same period last year, the net profit was Dh81 million.

Operation efficiencies and cost containment controls contributed to absorb partially the impact of the heavy rain storm that occurred in the month of March as reported in a previous statement by the Company. The cement plant returned to full operation at the end of July 2016, said Al Dhaheri.

He pointed out that the group’s balance sheet remained strong with cash and cash equivalents of Dh62.5 million.

Al Dhaheri said: "Arkan’s operating business has been resilient and we have continued to increase our market share, by building on current client relationships and expanding our presence in Dubai and further afield with more specialised products and services."

"We are confident our company is ahead of the competition and continues to set the benchmark in the local industry," he added.-TradeArabia News Service