Drake & Scull Q2 profit up 22%

Drake & Scull International's (DSI) second-quarter net profit rose 22 per cent, beating analysts' expectations, as the company's revenues grew from diversifying into other regional markets outside the UAE.

The Dubai-based contractor made a net profit of Dh55 million ($14.9 million) compared to profit of Dh45 million in the same period last year, it said in a statement on its website on Thursday.

Analysts in a Reuters poll forecast average profit of Dh52.8 million.

Drake said in May it expected to post a 25-to-30 per cent rise in 2011 revenues as it focuses on growth markets like Saudi Arabia and India.

Revenue for the second quarter was Dh739 million, up from Dh412 million dirhams in the same time in 2010, it said.

The company's backlog at the end of June was Dh7.5 billion.

Drake, whose biggest market is Saudi Arabia, has been rapidly expanding its operations outside Dubai.

"Our primary focus for the second half of the year is controlling costs and efficiently allocating resources to optimise our expense base while ensuring growth in market share," Chief Financial Officer Osama Hamdan said in a statement.

The firm's shares ended 0.6 per cent lower on the Dubai bourse on Thursday. The results were announced after the markets closed.

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