Saudi attacks fail to dampen Eversendai’s enthusiasm
Company submits tenders for Aramco O&G projects
PETALING JAYA: Eversendai Corp Bhd, which has an outstanding order book of Rm2.39bil, has tendered for new Saudi Aramco projects despite the recent drone attacks on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia.
Executive chairman and group managing director Tan Sri A K Nathan told Starbiz that the group is still keen on the energy giant’s projects.
“We did submit tenders for several new Saudi Aramco oil and gas (O&G) projects, as well as construction and infrastructure projects in the kingdom. The group does not foresee any impact on its business operations in Saudi from the unprecedented strikes.
“Currently, our tender book for Saudi Aramco projects is about Us$100mil. We have ongoing infrastructure construction projects in the kingdom.
“All steel fabrication requirement for Saudi Arabia is executed in our fabrication facilities in Sharjah, Dubai and in our waterfront fabrication yard in Ras Al Khaimah, the United Arab Emirates (UAE),” he noted.
He reiterated that the attacks on the oil facilities would not derail the group’s operations there. On Sept 14, drones attacked the world’s largest oil-processing facility in Saudi Arabia and slashed oil production by half.
In November last year, Eversendai completed a Saudi Aramco offshore O&G project which involved the engineering and fabrication of 10 offshore jackets and piles. It was executed in the group’s waterfront fabrication yard in the UAE.
According to Nathan, Eversendai’s projects in the Middle East are mainly from the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The group focuses mostly on projects in infrastructure and commercial development ranging from museums, convention centres, bridges, data centres, theme parks and stadiums to airports, etc.
Close to 85% to 90% of Eversendai’s revenue comes from overseas. Out of the year-todate revenue of Rm779.5mil, 65.7% was contributed by businesses in the Middle East, 13.8% by operations in India, 7.0% by operations in Singapore and 0.1% from the UK.
“For the next one to three years, our focus market would still be Malaysia, India, Singapore, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. We are also expecting to win projects in other countries including the Middle East and UK,” he added.
On the group’s worth of contracts and tenders, Nathan said total new wins stood at Rm890mil to date, adding that its tender book was worth Rm10bil with about Rm2.39bil in outstanding order book.
As for Eversendai’s expansion plans, he said: “We have more than Rm10bil in tender book and are confident of winning more work progressively. Moving forward, our plan is to venture into new markets to continuously develop the business.
“Eversendai’s business philosophy is not to depend on a single market or client. We remain optimistic in the regions where we operate with many new opportunities in the pipeline. With our established business clientele and market, we are confident of maintaining sustainable growth.”
Regardless of how the overall global market behaves, he noted that the construction sector would keep growing, according to the economic development of the respective countries.
“We are well-positioned to overcome any obstacles and stay on course to achieve our targeted business goals,” Nathan said.
On its financial performance for this year, he said amid the challenges and uncertainties in the global economy, Eversendai is confident of its business model, which is not to depend on a single client or country.
The group recently secured seven contracts for structural steel works worth Rm288mil across various markets – the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands, Singapore and India.
Among the latest batch of contract wins, it will also engineer and fabricate jackets and piles in the Netherlands, as well as undertake a data centre project in Singapore.
In India, it has secured three new jobs which are structural steel works for three commercial building towers in Hyderabad, an airport main terminal building and an ITC boiler structure in Chennai.
Eversendai will continue to strengthen its position in the Middle East, where it is undertaking structural steel works for the Saudi Pavilion designed for the Dubai Expo 2020 in Dubai, and a suspension bridge project in the King Abdullah Financial District in Saudi Arabia.