Tabreed Q2 net rises 9%

Cooling firm Tabreed posted a 9-percent rise in second-quarter net profit helped by a reduction in finance costs and increased sales at its core chilled water business, it said on Thursday.

Tabreed, which received funding earlier this year from state-owned fund Mubadala to restructure debt, said second-quarter net profit rose to Dh43.8 million ($11.9 million) compared with Dh40.3 million a year-ago.

Results for the quarter benefited from a 25 million dirhams reduction in financing costs due to the closure of its recapitalisation program in April, the firm said in a statement.

Revenue for the quarter rose to Dh286.6 million versus Dh247.7 million for the year earlier period. Chilled water business revenues rose 29 per cent to Dh425.6 million for the first half of the year, Tabreed said.

The company, which repaid a $200 million Islamic bond in July, expects to complete 10 additional cooling plants by the end of the year, Chief Executive Sujit Parhar said on a conference call.

In March, the firm secured an extra Dh3.1 billion ($844.2 million) funding from state-owned fund Mubadala, helping it to tackle its debt pile.

Dubai-listed Tabreed, formally called National Central Cooling Company, is among several Gulf companies which has to restructure its debt after an economic boom, fuelled by record-high oil prices and easy credit, ended abruptly and caused a property market crash.

It appointed Mubadala's Chief Operating Officer Waleed al Muhairi as its new chairman in May, replacing Khadem Al Qubaisi who stepped down from the board.

Tabreed shares, which fell as much as 4.3 per cent in early trade, recovered some of its losses to trade down 1.2 per cent at 0635 GMT on the Abu Dhabi bourse. They have lost over 50 percent of their value year-to-date.

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