Asry earned a record net profit of $39.3 million last year, the company has said. The net ship repair sales for last year reached $164.3 million, which was the highest sales in Asry's history with 20 per cent increase over 2006 sales of $136.9 million.

The operating profit before depreciation reached $45.5 million compared to $22.7 million for 2006 and the net profit reached $39.3 million, an increase of 137 per cent over 2006 net profit of $16.5 million.

The audited financial results for last year were announced at the 33rd ordinary meeting, under the chairmanship of Shaikh Daij bin Salman bin Daij Al Khalifa.

The number of ships repaired last year was 145 compared to 139 ships in 2006 as a large number of huge oil carriers were docked and repaired.

The number of ships from Arab market again increased and reached 62 vessels compared to 53 in 2006 and the number of ships from the international market was 83.

The income from the Arab market reached $79.7 million and from the international market was $84.6 million.

Asry also approved the distribution of total dividends of $8.5 million to the shareholding countries, as per the share of each country in the capital of the company.

During the meeting Messrs Grant Thornton - Abdulaal were appointed as company's auditors for this year.

After the ordinary meeting of the general assembly, an extraordinary meeting was held where the General Assembly approved the transfer of the shares of the Government of Bahrain in Asry from Finance Ministry to Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company.

Asry, which was established in 1974, continued its success in the international ship repair market and was the first large company in its kind to work in the Middle East.

It is owned by seven Arab countries, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Iraq and Libya.

The company's net profit during the last five years has increased steadily, from a net loss of $2.696 million in 2003 to a slight net profit of $2.100 million in 2004 then rose to $8.143 million in 2005.

The company's operations also witnessed a significant growth during 2003 to last year as the number of ships repaired by Asry in 2003 was 120, which rose to 132 in 2004, then reached 153 ships in 2005, and although the number decreased to 139 in 2006, the volume of work was much more that year and finally reached 145 ships last year.

Shaikh Daij said that the first months of this year are promising and all indications tell that this year will also be better than last year, as the expected sales for the first half of the current year will exceed $100 million.

"I am more optimistic because the two slipway projects is under operation now and this will allow Asry to receive more and different types of ships which will lead to increase in the revenue."

Shaikh Daij thanked the members of the board the executive management and all employees for their sincere efforts, which led to this success and record figures.-TradeArabia News Service