Industry

BSF signs SR912.5m steel financing deal

In a major move to promote the steel industry in the Kingdom, the Banque Saudi Fransi (BSF) has come forward as a sole financing agent and signed a SR912.5 million deal to finance the South Steel Co. project, one of the largest steel projects in the Gulf region. The first phase of South Steel Co. project, which has a paid-up capital of SR450 million, will attract total investment of SR1.3 billion. The BSF has made available SR912.5 million for this project, which will kick off production in 2011.

Raymond expands in Gulf region

One of India's leading textile manufacturers, Raymond Ltd, is planning to make special fabric for the kandoorah or dishdasha, the traditional dress of Arabs, as their business in the Gulf region continues to grow at the rate of 15 per cent, a top company official said. Gautam Singhania, Managing Director and Chairman of the Raymond Group, told Gulf News the company was looking at consolidating its presence in the GCC market and manufacturing fabric for dishdashas was a logical decision.

Kuwait's KIPCO Q4 net loss $201 mn on provisions

Kuwait Projects Co (KIPCO) made a net loss of about 59.46 million dinars ($201.5 million) in fourth-quarter as it took 60 million dinars in provisions against assets. Full-year net profit fell to 24.1 million dinars in 2008, or 21.82 fils per share, the firm said. That compared with "normalised" profit of 67.2 million dinars, or 60.2 fils per share, a year earlier, it said.

Rio Tinto Alcan Signs Technology Transfer and Cooperation Agreements With Ma'aden

Rio Tinto Alcan has signed two key agreements with Ma'aden, Saudi Arabian Mining Company, to further its mine-to-metal aluminium project in Saudi Arabia. The technology transfer agreement provides Ma'aden with Rio Tinto Alcan's industry-leading AP smelting technology, while the cooperation agreement will provide for various other types of project support. The technology transfer agreement represents the first industrial application of AP37 technology in a greenfield project, with provisions to upgrade the Ma'aden facility to AP39 technology in the future. AP technology is recognised throughout the aluminium industry as the most energy efficient and environmentally friendly smelter technology commercially available.

Manufacturing Saudi Arabia leads in manufacturing sector investments

Saudi Arabia has topped other Gulf states in terms of investments made in the manufacturing sector. The volume of investments made by the Kingdom in GCC factories amounted to $92 billion (Dh337.91 billion) out of a total of $150 billion until 2008, according to a report. The number of factories established in the Kingdom reached 4.437 with a total workforce exceeding 472,000.

Agility shares dive after Q4 net fall, no dividend

Kuwaiti logistics group Agility posted lower profits as it felt the impact of the global financial crisis and cancelled its dividend for the past year, sending its shares down 7 percent. The Gulf's biggest logistics provider by market value suffered a 4.9 percent fall in fourth-quarter net profit to 33.2 million Kuwaiti dinars ($114.7 million), and missed its 2008 revenue target. The company said its board recommended no dividend for 2008. For 2007, Agility had paid 80 fils per share and issued a bonus share for every 10 held. There are 1,000 fils to the dinar.

DP World sees little sign of volume recovery

Dubai-based port operator DP World said there was no end in sight to a fall-off in activity caused by the global downturn, after reporting an 8 percent drop in trade volumes in the first two months of 2009. The company, one of the world's largest container operators, reported a 48 percent rise in headline 2008 results as profit after tax for continuing operations rose to $621 million, but only after a sharp contraction in the last quarter of the year.