Abu Dhabi’s Senaat posts rise in profit from Agthia gains

Senaat remains confident in its financial position, said Hussain Jasim Al Nowais, the company’s chairman. Silvia Razgova / The National

Senaat, an Abu Dhabi industrial investment holding company, said that its first-half profit rose 6 per cent from the second half of last year, boosted by gains from the food company Agthia.

The profitability came despite overall drop in revenue as lower commodity prices weighed on many of its other businesses.

The holding company’s profit rose to Dh341 million in the first six months of this year compared to Dh321m in the second half of last year. Revenue in the same period slipped to Dh6.4 billion, in line with the expectations of management, versus Dh7.3bn in the second half of last year.

“In spite of the challenges faced both domestically and globally, Senaat remains confident in its financial position,” said Hussain Jasim Al Nowais, the company’s chairman.

“The strong performance of our portfolio companies as well our senior management’s strategy of implementing internal cost controls have enabled us to remain in a strong position as we enter the second half of the year.”

Profit at Agthia, which is listed on the Abu Dhabi stock exchange and in which Senaat has a 51 per cent stake, rose 16 per cent to Dh145m in the first half year-on-year, lifted by a 15 per cent increase in revenue in the same period.

Senaat manages more than Dh26.8bn of industrial assets and has invested about Dh1.9bn a year in the non-oil sector over the past 10 years. Its investments include Emirates Steel, National Petroleum Construction, Arkan Building Materials and the dates company Al Foah.

“Senaat’s performance during the first half of this year reflects an excellent effort across our portfolio companies to retain our competitive edge in challenging economic times,” said Jamal Al Dhaheri, the chief executive of Senaat.

“At the heart of this has been Senaat’s strategy to optimise the strengths of our various portfolio companies to become industrial champions for Abu Dhabi.”

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