O&M support to KSA’s King Abdullah Financial District major operational milestone

National Central Cooling Company PJSC (Tabreed), the Abu Dhabi-based district cooling utility company, released its consolidated third quarter (Q3) 2013 financial results on October 4, in which it has revealed an increase in its net profit, new customer connections, improved operating efficiencies and lower finance costs, that, it claims continue to drive the company’s strong financial performance.

The company gave the following financial highlights – nine months ended 30 September 2013:

• Net profit attributable to the parent increased by 21% to AED 202.3 million (2012 YTD: AED 167.6 million)
• Core chilled water revenue increased by four per cent to AED 775.9 million (2012 YTD: AED 747.6 million)
• Core chilled water profit from operations increased by four per cent to AED 266.4 million (2012 YTD: AED 255.9 million)
• In line with expectations as the company continued to phase out the non-core businesses, Group revenue declined by two per cent to AED 826.5 million (2012 YTD: AED 842.0 million)
• EBITDA increased by five per cent to AED 379.7 million (2012 YTD: AED 362.2  million)
• Net finance costs decreased by 14% to AED 111.0 million (2012 YTD: AED 128.6 million)

Operational highlights – nine months ended 30 September 2013:

• 16,150 RT of customer connections added in the third quarter
• Group connected capacity across the GCC increased by 8.1% to reach 829,403 RT
• Connected capacity in the UAE increased by 5.4% to reach 635,224 RT
• Affiliate company Saudi Tabreed began providing operation and maintenance (O&M) support to the district cooling plant servicing the King Abdulla Financial District  in Saudi Arabia

In light of this, Waleed Al Mokarrab Al Muhairi, Tabreed’s Chairman, said: “Tabreed’s strategy to drive growth through our core chilled water business continues to deliver strong results.  Looking ahead, we remain optimistic that chilled water demand will continue to increase across the region, and look forward to working closely with our clients to implement energy-efficient cooling solutions that enable our region’s sustainable development.”

Jasim Husain Thabet, Tabreed’s CEO, added: “The combination of revenue growth in our chilled water business and lower financing costs resulted in a strong improvement in profit for the period. The commencement of O&M support to the King Abdullah Financial District in Saudi Arabia was a major operational milestone. Today, we deliver approximately 830,000 RT of critical district cooling services in five countries throughout the GCC, making us the region’s preeminent district cooling provider.”