Dubai contractor Arabtec reported a widening fourth-quarter net loss yesterday that it blamed on tough market conditions.
The firm had also reported widening losses in the preceding four quarters that it attributed to increased costs.
Arabtec made a net loss of 360mn dirhams ($98.02mn) in the three months to December 31, Reuters calculated based on Arabtec’s full-year earnings statement.
This compares with a loss of 94.4mn dirhams in the corresponding period of 2014.
An analyst at SICO Bahrain had forecast Arabtec would make a quarterly net loss of 123.6mn dirhams.
The company, whose largest shareholder is Abu Dhabi state-owned fund Aabar, has undergone major upheavals over the past two years, with the departure of its chairman and most senior management, while a much-touted $35.8bn project to build 1mn homes in Egypt failed to be agreed.
Arabtec’s 2015 net loss was 2.3bn dirhams, which compares with a 2014 profit of 215mn dirhams, according to a bourse statement that said last year’s loss was a “consequence of the continuing difficult environment that the regional construction market is facing”.
The company will seek to further cut costs in 2016, it added.

Al Baraka Banking
Al Baraka Banking Group, the Bahrain-based Islamic lender with operations in more than a dozen countries, reported a 15% rise in fourth-quarter net profit yesterday.  The bank made a net attributable profit of $42mn in the three months ending December 31, a rise of 15% on the same period of 2014, it said in a statement.
The bank’s 2015 net attributable profit was $162.7mn, compared with 2014’s profit of $151.7mn. This increase in earnings came despite the negative impact of a strong US dollar in many of the markets in which it operates, the statement said.
The bank’s board has proposed paying a cash dividend of $0.02 per share and a stock dividend of 3 free shares for every 100 held for the year ending December 31, 2015. This compares with the $0.03 per share cash dividend and 2 free shares per 100 held it paid out in the previous year.