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29 March 2024

DSI wins $79m Saudi contract

Drake & Scull unit will engineer, procure, construct and operate the district cooling plant in Riyadh (FILE)

Published
By Reuters

A subsidiary of Dubai contractor Drake & Scull International (DSI) said on Wednesday it had won a Dh290 million ($79 million) contract to build and operate a cooling plant in Saudi Arabia.

Drake & Scull Water and Power (DSWP) will engineer, procure, construct and operate the district cooling plant in Riyadh which will have a capacity of 35,000 tonnes.

"The design and build project is scheduled to start immediately and will take 18 months to complete," the company said.

"As of September this year, DSI's projects in Saudi Arabia contributed to 29 per cent of the company's total backlog, including the backlog consolidation of recently acquired Drake & Scull International Saudi," it said, adding it wanted to increase that figure to 50 per cent by 2011.

Drake has been rapidly expanding outside Dubai where house prices have plunged 60 per cent since their peak in 2008 as a result of the financial crisis.

It specialises in mechanical, engineering and plumbing businesses, and reported a sharp 45 percent drop in quarterly profit last month, below expectations.

Khaldoun Tabari, CEO of DSI, said earlier that company is eyeing two acquisitions in Saudi Arabia in the fourth quarter this year.