Shipbuilder ADSB trains sights on exports as profit rises

ADSB

• Abu Dhabi Ship Building’s H1 profit tops figure for full-year 2022
• Listed builder’s order book at more than $2.1bn
• UAE Navy is biggest customer, but export sales rising

Abu Dhabi Ship Building has reported net profit of AED21 million ($5.7 million) for the first half of 2023 – more than its profit figure for the whole of last year.

The listed shipbuilder’s order book stands at more than AED8 billion, it said in a filing to Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange on Monday.

CEO David Massey added that ADSB was in talks for “large potential export sales” that could add billions of dirhams to its pipeline.

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The company’s largest export order so far is a deal to supply small warships and patrol boats to the Angolan Navy.

It received the first payment on the Angolan contract during the second quarter, as well as advance payment on an agreement to build 24 search and rescue boats for the UAE’s Critical Infrastructure & Coastal Protection Authority.

ADSB – which is 40 percent owned by defence and tech giant Edge – said revenue was AED566 million for the first six months of the year, up from AED373 million in H1 2022.

Net profit for H1 2022 was AED5.2 million while the full-year 2022 figure was AED20.5 million, so both were outstripped by the H1 2023 figure of AED21 million.

The business is currently constructing four Falaj3 offshore patrol vessels for the UAE Navy.

Massey said the Emirati military would always be ADSB’s biggest customer, but it was reaping the rewards of its expansion strategy.

“Further large potential export sales are in the early stages of negotiation, with a potential pipeline of an additional several billion dirhams.

“The business will see a very significant increase in activity in the next few years and a capacity enhancement programme with the necessary capital expenditure will commence later this year,” he added.

In February the UAE announced the establishment of a free zone dedicated to the military and security sector.

The zone will be located within the Tawazun Industrial Park in Abu Dhabi and will be operated by the Tawazun Council, the UAE’s defence and security acquisitions authority.