Arabtec poised to sign $1.23bn worth of deals in Abu Dhabi

Dubai contractor Arabtec said on Wednesday it is close to securing three new projects in Abu Dhabi worth in total more than AED4.5bn ($1.23bn), driving its share price higher.

"We are shortlisted for three major projects in Abu Dhabi, which we are hoping to conclude soon," chief executive Riad Kamal told Reuters.

Kamal spoke to Reuters after shares in the firm soared in early trading.

"Arabtec rallied on the back of speculation of a new contract being awarded in Abu Dhabi and when this was confirmed towards the end of the session it pushed the stock even higher," said Anne Marie Browne, Foreign Institutional Sales, Al-Futtaim HC Securities.

The stock closed up 5.4 percent.

Arabtec's Kamal said the deals could be concluded within a week or a month.

"Each project is well over AED1.5bn each," he said. "We are having ongoing meetings."

Construction firms are increasingly turning to Abu Dhabi to drive business in the UAE after a sharp decline in Dubai's real estate sector led to billions of dollars worth of construction projects being scaled back or cancelled.

Arabtec said in April it had suspended or delayed projects worth AED4bn($1.1bn) in the UAE.

The firm, which has a backlog of projects worth AED39b, including AED10bn for a tower project in St Petersburg in Russia, recently broke ground on its first joint venture project in Saudi Arabia.

It posted a 30 percent decline in first-quarter profit to AED161m.

Arabtec recently hit local and international headlines for being at the centre of a BBC TV documentary about the plight of labourers working in Dubai's construction industry .  (Reuters)

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