Cairo, Egypt / May 29, 2008, 09:30 AM
OCI Announces Q1 2008 Results Summary
Summary of Consolidated Results for the Q1 2008 Ended 31 March 2008:
- Consolidated revenue grew 33.1% to USUSD 723.8 million
(LE 4,011.4 million) versus USUSD 544.0 million (LE 3,104.5 million)
in Q1 2007
- EBITDA from continuing operations rose 83.2% to USUSD 169.6 million
(LE 940 million) versus USUSD 92.6 million (LE 528.4 million)
in Q1 2007
- Consolidated EBITDA margin increased by 640bps to 23.4%
versus 17.0% in Q1 2007
- Consolidated backlog reached a record USUSD 6.8 billion, reflecting
growth of 44.7% over the backlog as at December 31 2007 and 166.8%
growth over the same time last year
- Net Income from continuing operations grew 186.9% to
USUSD 197.3 million (LE 1,093.2 million) versus USUSD 68.7 million
(LE 392.3 million) in Q1 2007
- The gain on the sale of discontinued operations of Egyptian
Container Handling Company (ECHCO) was USUSD 255.0 million
(LE 1,413.5 million)
- Consolidated net income for Q1 2008 grew 224.0%
to USUSD 454.4 million (LE 2,518.1 million) versus USUSD 140.3 million
(LE 800.4 million) in Q1 2007
Statement from the Chief Executive Officer - Nassef Sawiris
Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) began 2008 with a record
quarter. During the quarter, we completed the execution of the Cement
Group divestment to Lafarge and the divestment of our stake in ECHCO to
DP World. OCI also successfully completed the milestone acquisition
of 100% of Egyptian Fertilizer Company (EFC) which emphasizes our
strong outlook on the sector performance and our strategy to
become a world scale producer. Also during the quarter, we issued a
record cash dividend of USUSD 11 billion to our shareholders which were
based on the Cement Group transaction's divestment proceeds.
Following the acquisition of EFC, OCI immediately embarked on
synergy-building activities leveraging the location of the plant in Ain
Sokhna by the Red Sea coast, in the Suez Industrial Development
Company's industrial park, an OCI majority held concession. The
synergies will come from various cost-cutting and savings associated
with the proximity to the Egyptian Basic Industries Corporation's
(EBIC) ammonia greenfield which is located a few meters away from the
EFC plant. Construction of the EBIC plant by the KBR/OCI consortium is
on schedule with full production aimed for Q4 2008.
Sorfert Algeria also signed the Engineering, Procurement and
Construction (EPC) contract with an Uhde/OCI Algeria consortium for the
construction of the 2 million tonne nitrogen complex near the northern
Mediterranean coast of Algeria with a target to start the commissioning
process in late 2010. Notore Chemical Industries Ltd (NCIL)
in Nigeria expects to complete the rehabilitation of its nitrogen
fertilizer plant in southeast Nigeria during Q4 2008. Our commissioning
pipeline positions OCI as one of the largest nitrogen producers in the
world. We continue to assess several new investment opportunities in
the sector.
Our Construction Group continued to report robust backlog growth. The
consolidated backlog reached a record USUSD 6.8 billion, reflecting
growth of 44.7% over the backlog as at December 31 2007 and 166.8%
growth over the same time last year. The growth was driven by a record
quarter of new awards totaling USUSD 2.9 billion. Although inflation
poses a challenge to developers and contractors, we have actively
managed to hedge against its risks in our new contracts. The group has
also begun to receive new construction equipment orders as part of
the plan to significantly increase its capacity to cope with demand in
the region for our construction services. The Construction
Group launched its operations in Abu Dhabi with contract awards valued
at north of USUSD 250 million. It is evident that 2008 will be yet
another record year for construction awards as rampant spending on
infrastructure and industrial projects continues to breed new
opportunities in our areas of operations.
Also during the quarter, Besix signed a partnership protocol
with France based Suez Energy Services to jointly offer commercial
facility management services in the UAE, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain. OCI
is also expanding its facility management services in Egypt through
Contrack FM whose clients include clients such as HSBC, Coca Cola, and
the Smart Village. OCI also announced its capex plan to double annual
steel fabrication capacity to approximately 120 thousand tonnes to cope
with the growth in demand for its services on large-scale industrial
and infrastructure projects across the region and in Europe.
We shall continue to deploy our resources to develop new investment
opportunities in our core business activities, explore new ways to
leverage our construction services and execution capabilities in
infrastructure, industrial and large-scale commercial projects and
maintain a healthy balance sheet. We look forward to another strong
year of delivering results.
For additional information
contact: For additional information on OCI:
OCI Investor Relations Department:
Orascom Construction Industries
(OCI)
Omar Darwazah
Email: omar.darwazah@orascomci.com Nile City Towers - South Tower
2005A Corniche El Nil
Ahmed Sultan Cairo, Egypt
Email: ahmed.sultan@orascomci.com
www.orascomci.com
Tel: +202 2461 1036/0727/0914
Fax: +202 2461 9409 OCI stock symbols: OCIC.CA / ORCI
EY / OCICqL / ORSD
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The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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