Dubai: A top Egyptian government official’s statement was enough to calm investor concerns relating to the Arabtec counter at the Dubai Financial Market, with the share gaining 2.15 per cent to Dh2.38.
Khaled Abbas, assistant housing minister, was quoted in wire reports as saying that Arabtec’s role in a $35 billion (Dh128.55 billion) housing development programme was still on and that his government was awaiting the “opinion of the new Arabtec management” as the contracts were being prepared.
However, Arabtec is yet to put the word out on where it stands vis-à-vis the Egypt project. The company has not been fielding media requests, nor did it put out a statement on the Dubai Financial Market addressing the active speculation that had impacted its stock price on Sunday.
The share was down by more than 3 per cent. But some shareholders believe that a statement is “imminent”, even if it only states that it is working on the details before signing up for Phase 1 of the development. The first phase would involve 100,000 homes.
The gains notched up Monday would come as some sort of relief for shareholders, which has seen the scrip scale heights of Dh6.48 and then limp to a low of Dh1.98 over a 52-week period.
Analysts say that the second-quarter financials would also be of particular significance. They will want to know whether the construction major was able to consolidate much of the “bad news” in the first quarter numbers itself and not let it seep into subsequent quarters.
Meanwhile, local construction industry sources say that there is still a lot of project-related activity going on the UAE. Some prestigious contracts are due to be awarded in the second half of the year, both from government agencies and private developers.
For Arabtec, a lot depends on whether it is able to secure enough contracts to keep its local order book ticking along nicely.
