UAE-based National Central Cooling Company (Tabreed), a leading regional district cooling utility company, has registered a net profit of Dh78 million ($21.2 million) for the first quarter of 2018, up three per cent over Dh75.4 million ($20.5 million) for the same period last year.

Announcing its consolidated financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2018, Tabreed said its core chilled water revenue increased by 1.4 per cent to Dh258.7 million from Dh255.2 million last year.

The share of results of associates and joint ventures decreased by 4.8 per cent to Dh21.8 million compared to Dh22.9 million in Q1 2017, it stated.

The Abu Dhabi-based company pointed out that the group revenue increased by 2 per cent to Dh274.4 million from Dh270.2 million last year. The ebitda too increased by 6 per cent to Dh148.6 million from Dh140.8 million last year.

Tabreed said the company continues to deliver strong and consistent performance from its 72 district cooling plants across the GCC, which deliver almost 1.1 million refrigeration tons (RT) of cooling capacity to customers.
 
Some of its strategic moves include the acquisition of 50 per cent of S&T Cool District Cooling Company on Reem Island in Abu Dhabi to become its sole owner. The plant has connected capacity of over 32,000 RT and is the sixth plant in Tabreed’s portfolio providing district cooling to Aldar developments.

Tabreed also successfully completed a three-year pilot project for developing digital ‘smart controller’ technology to intelligently manage district cooling plants and improve operational performance by decreasing energy consumption in partnership with Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, a part of the Khalifa University of Science and Technology.
 
On the solid performance, Chairman Khaled Abdulla Al Qubaisi said: "This is another strong set of results, further reinforcing the company’s market leading position and the strength of its business model. Our core chilled water business is the fulcrum of this model and continues to support the delivery of stable shareholder returns, which remains our top priority."

"We are confident of continuing to deliver growth as we further expand our operations and look forward to reporting progress through the current financial year," he added.

CEO Jasim Husain Thabet said: "We are very pleased to demonstrate once again that our unique cooling solutions are playing their part in the country’s efforts to achieve energy sustainability. Becoming the sole owner of S&T was also an important step in our long-term growth plan."

"We continue to explore ways of achieving greater efficiencies and developing innovative ways of reducing energy consumption and our pilot project with Masdar Institute of Science and Technology has proved valuable in this regard," observed Thabet.

With 72 district cooling plants located throughout the region, Tabreed currently delivers over 1 million refrigeration tonne to key developments in the region including iconic infrastructure projects such as Abu Dhabi’s Al Maryah Island, Yas Island, Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Dubai Metro, Dubai Parks and Resorts, and the Jabal Omar Development in the Holy City of Mecca, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

"We remain alert to all opportunities that can add value to our own business and also enhance our customers’ ability to reduce their energy consumption," he added.-TradeArabia News Service