Adnoc Distribution appoints new acting chief executive

Ahmed Al Shamsi, who is currently with Borouge, to replace Saeed Al Rashdi from January

An attendant is pictured at one of Adnoc Distribution's service stations. Brand Finance said Adnoc's brand value had grown in value by 29 per cent last year to $11.39bn. Reem Mohammed/The National

Adnoc Distribution, the UAE's largest fuel retailer, appointed Ahmed Al Shamsi as acting chief executive, replacing Saeed Al Rashdi who will step down to take up a new role with Adnoc Group.

Mr Al Shamsi is currently the senior vice president for the Middle East, Africa and Europe at the Abu Dhabi chemicals company Borouge and is responsible for leading the sales and marketing activities as well as developing and implementing the long term strategies for the company.

His career spans more than 18 years in various positions in chemical engineering, project management and petrochemicals, according to his biography on Borouge's website. Mr Al Shamsi started his career in 1999 as a process engineer at Abu Dhabi Gas Company and later moved to the Industrial Development Fund to work as a project manager. He is also a board member of the Ruwais Fertilizer Industries.

Mr Al Shamsi holds a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Tulsa in the US and a master's in quality management  from the University of Wollongong, Australia. He will take over as the new acting chief executive from January 5, the company said in a regulatory filing to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange on Sunday.

The new appointment comes as Adnoc Distribution eyes foreign expansion outside of Saudi Arabia, and has Egypt, Africa’s third-most populous nation, on the radar.

"Egypt is a great market," the company's chief operating officer Mohammad Al Hashimi recently told Bloomberg TV . "There's massive growth, the macro [economic environment] is good, rising incomes, the population is going up as always." It also plans to enter the Indian lubricants market to boost growth.

In October, the company reported a 2.3 per cent rise in nine-month net profit, and reiterated full-year dividend will be higher than that of 2018.

Adnoc Distribution plans to distribute a Dh2.39bn or 19.10 fils per share annual dividend for this year, 62 per cent more than last year. The company paid half of this year's dividend in October and plans to pay the remaining portion in April 2020, subject to board approval.

Net profit for the period ending September 30 rose to Dh1.72 billion from the same period earlier. Underlying Ebitda, excluding inventory gains for the same period grew 10.6 per cent to Dh2.06bn.