Hot profits from cold water for Abu Dhabi's Tabreed

Tabreed, the Abu Dhabi utility company, posted a 34 per cent rise in net profit last year as its revenues rose after building 11 new chilled water plants.

Tabreed chills water at its plants and distributes it to buildings and other infrastructure projects.

Net profit rose to Dh182.7 million (US$49.8m) from Dh136.8m the year before, it said today.

"Our full year performance, in particular our revenue growth and significantly increased profitability, demonstrates the success of our strategy of focusing on the chilled water business, improving operational efficiencies and applying stricter cost discipline across the business," said chairman Waleed Al Muhairi, Tabreed's chairman.

The company's revenue from chilled water, the main driver of its business, rose by a quarter to Dh943.8m.

It built 11 plants during the year, eight for the Dubai Metro Green Line, raising its connected capacity in the country to 555,181 refrigerated tonnes (RT).

Tabreed has moved its business to a sustainable footing after restructuring debt it built up during the property downturn.

In April Tabreed completed a recapitalisation programme involving refinancing Dh2.63 billion of debt and receiving Dh3.1bn of long-term capital from Mubadala Development in return for Mubadala holding an increased stake in Tabreed.

tarnold@thenational.ae