UAE giant RAK Ceramics has revealed plans to expand into the Saudi market.
The ceramics manufacturer currently conducts 70 percent of its operations from its 120 million square metre production facility in Ras Al Khaimah, with further facilities also in India and Bangladesh.
CEO Abdallah Massaad told Arabian Business plans were afoot to add to this.
He said: “We have a plan to increase further, which we are looking at. We are still looking at Saudi as the main expansion for us.”
In a recent results announcement, it was revealed that the company’s revenue for the second quarter in all markets except Saudi Arabia was negatively impacted due to the global Covid-19 pandemic.
RAK Ceramics, which sells to more than 150 countries worldwide, registered a total revenue of $112 million, down 37.3 percent year-on-year, blamed largely on lockdowns in India, Bangladesh and across Europe.
Massaad said there was a decrease in revenue in April and May as the business began to feel the impact of these lockdowns combined with reduced demand in the construction, hospitality and airline industries.
The decrease in revenue had an impact on the bottom line and RAK Ceramics’ reported a net loss after minority of $3.2m for the second quarter.
However, he remained upbeat, despite a recent increase in Covid-19 cases in the UAE and rising numbers in India, in particular, and across Western Europe.
He said: “I know this is not a fundamental problem, it’s fine as a business. We have a very solid foundation. We’ve passed through many, many ups and downs and crises at RAK Ceramics and every time after the crisis we come up better than previously.”
The company previously revealed that the imposition of anti-dumping duties on tiles imported from India and China and the reopening of Saudi borders in June supported increased demand for its products.
“We passed this period with the minimum impact and I can tell you, as I’m optimistic, I was optimistic when it started and I still believe this is a period and this period will end,” said Massaad, who stressed that no staff redundancies have been made as a result of the crisis.
“For sure business which is related to the tourism industry will still need time to pick-up; India still needs time to pick-up, but if we take these two we get back to normal,” he added.
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