Gulf News - Abu Dhabi’s NMDC has spread its project wins across geographies

Abu Dhabi’s National Marine Dredging Company (NMDC) is an EPC contractor that caters to both onshore and offshore clients in the oil and gas sector.

At its 1.3 million square meter yard, NMDC offers a range of services like pipe coating, indoor and outdoor material storage, construction of pressure vessels, and fabrication of storage tanks for petroleum products. NMDC is also engaged in dredging and land reclamation in the UAE’s territorial waters. It also operates in Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and India through its subsidiaries.

The market cap is Dh18.23 billion.

Financial performance

For 2022, NMDC reported a 35 per cent jump in revenues to Dh10.68 billion, while net profit soared 30 per cent to Dh1.3 billion, of which Dh237 million was attributable to the partial disposal of a subsidiary's operations. As a result, EPS rose 25.39 per cent to Dh1.58.

The balance of cash and cash equivalents hit Dh2.78 billion in 2022 from Dh802 million. NMDC holds healthy reserves of retained earnings totalling Dh4.95 billion as of the end of December.

New contracts

NMDC bagged several contracts amounting to over Dh9.6 billion in 2022. These include a deal worth Dh3.4 billion from ADNOC for the Umm Sharif Field and contracts worth AED 2.4 billion by Saudi Aramco for two key projects - the Jafurah Development Program and MNIF 14 Jacket projects.

Another deal from ADNOC entails Dh2 billion to build a main gas line project in its Lower Zakum field. NMDC also landed two dredging work deals in Egypt – a contract worth Dh1 billion for the Suez Canal and another worth Dh79 million in Safaga Port.

Another project involves the installation of monopiles for wind turbine structures in the Yunlin offshore wind farm as part of a deal worth Dh364 million. It was also awarded a Dh256 million dredging and reclamation project by Ansab Contracting in Saudi Arabia.

Such a strong project pipeline has improved the revenue visibility and growth prospects. It puts NMDC well on track to achieve its goal of geographical expansion, diversify into new business verticals, and capture additional market share both within the UAE and outside.

Growth chances

NMDC has projects worth over Dh54 billion under execution. Moving forward, the company is committed to enhancing its state-of-the-art fleet and adopting innovative technology to win more contracts and scale up its capacity to undertake specialized projects of more complex nature.

The acquisition of National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC) in February 2021 has also unlocked synergistic benefits.

In March 2023, NMDC signed a MoU with Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry to launch an initiative to increase procurement opportunities. This will also support the progress and development of businesses in Abu Dhabi by facilitating participation across NMDC Group’s project portfolio.