Abu Dhabi: Arabtec Holding, the Dubai-listed construction company, reported on Sunday Dh186.4 million in losses attributable to owners for the second quarter of 2016, marking the company’s seventh consecutive quarter of losses.

The Q2 loss is, however, a 74 per cent improvement from the Dh718 million in losses recorded in the same quarter in 2015.

The figures bring losses attributable to owners for the first half of 2016 to Dh232.8 million – down from Dh998 million in losses in H1 2015.

Revenues also recorded an increase, rising almost 20 per cent to reach Dh2.1 billion in Q2 2016 from Dh1.8 billion in the same quarter of 2015. Revenues for the first half of this year were Dh4 billion – up 14 per cent year-on-year from Dh3.6 billion in H1 2015.

The losses are just over three times higher the Dh60 million losses that the market was expecting, according to Saleem Khokhar, head of fund management at the National Bank of Abu Dhabi’s asset management group.

“The numbers are a little bit on the soft side despite the progress that we’re seeing at the gross profit level. The pressure on the working capital is still there and I suppose you can link that with the collection of receivables, which has been a little bit lower,” he said.

Trade and other receivables in the first half of 2016 were in negative territory, at –Dh344 million, down from Dh311 million in the same half of 2016.

Construction companies in the region have been grappling with a tougher operating environment with lower profit margins and delays in payment cycles from developers.

“I think it will continue to be challenging for the construction sector, but less so in the UAE because you’re still getting reasonable projects in the pipeline. When you look at the GCC as a whole, there are quite a lot of construction companies that are facing some really steep hurdles, and that’s casting a shadow on the industry as a whole,” NBAD’s Khokhar said.

He said that though the UAE has seen a slowdown in new developments, there are still projects in the pipeline, which will, in turn, be awarded to construction companies, bringing in new revenue sources for the sector.

In June, Arabtec received shareholder approval to pull Dh1 billion out of its statutory reserve in order to extinguish 44 per cent of the losses it had accumulated thus far. The move left Dh148 million in the company’s statutory reserve.

The move was part of the company’s plan to salvage its financial performance this year, with its chairman saying Arabtec was aiming to breakeven in 2016. The company had also been awarded three construction contracts in the first quarter of this year, totaling a value of Dh4.8 billion – roughly 66 per cent of total revenues for 2015.

The company did not issue a statement or a management report to comment on the latest results.

Arabtec’s share prices ended trade on Sunday 1.31 per cent lower to reach Dh1.51. Shares of the company, which are usually more heavily traded, saw Dh35.5 million in trade value – seven per cent of the total trade value of the Dubai Financial Market.