Integrated engineering specialist, Drake & Scull International (DSI) has reported US$11.4mn in net profit for the first quarter of 2010 and revenues of US$105mn.
"The first quarter of 2009 net operating profit of US$13mn before amortisation and interest income compares to US$10mn net operating profit in the first quarter of 2010 before amortisation. These results reflect a year on year 23 per cent drop in operating profit," said Osama Hamdan, DSI chief financial officer. "It is worth mentioning that in spite of the current market challenges we have maintained our operating margins.? DSI chief executive, Khaldoun Tabari, said, "Our revenue was affected by the extension of project completion dates and the pre-construction activities of our new projects in addition to the development of our operations in new territories, like Egypt, Oman and Saudi Arabia. We have seen a positive start to the year with over US$272mn worth of projects being added to our backlog, currently standing at US$1 billion as of April 1st. This will have a positive effect on our future revenue which is expected to materialise in the second half of the year."
The DSI board approved the start of the company's operations in Syria, which is expected to come into effect by the end of the year.
"The companies we acquired in 2009 and early 2010 ? Passavant-Roediger, Drake & Scull Qatar and Drake & Scull Kuwait ? are being integrated with our corporate operations and will start generating revenue by the second half of the year," said Tabari. ?Our planned growth strategy will deliver the results expected in accordance with our overall 2010 financial targets."
