Dubai:
A further expansion of its retail network and a step into real estate development will open up the revenue stream for the building materials company Danube this year. The Dubai headquartered company is projecting a top-line number of Dh2.5 billion in 2014 against the Dh2 billion it notched up last year.
Danube averaged a monthly revenue growth of 17 per cent in the second-half of 2013, and expects to maintain between 15-20 per cent in the current one.
“We will grow our retail base with the opening of 10 showrooms across the region; this will include six medium-sized showrooms while four will be massive,” said Rizwan Sajan, chairman of the group.
Within the UAE, the steady increase in project activity will hold the group in good stead. Demand is broadbased and not just confined to one or two end-user categories such as residential or commercial. Retail and hospitality too will provide revenue growth support, according to the company.
“Forty per cent of our revenues are solely from the UAE, while 30 per cent is comprised from Saudi Arabia, 20 per cent Oman and 10 per cent from other markets,” said Sajan.
Given the prospects for expansion of the construction industry in the region, Danube is commissioning a Dh20 million cut-and-bend plant in Saudi Arabia.
The move into real estate development will take the form of “affordable housing”, with a location currently being finalised in Dubai.
