Gulf Navigation Holding first quarter 2007 profit up by 678 per cent

Net profits have grown by an impressive 678% over the same period last year. Net profit stood at AED 24.03 million compared to AED 3.54 million while revenue for the first three months of 2007 was AED 56.97 million compared to AED 29.76 for the first quarter 2006.The net profit includes AED 11.2 million generated by investing majority of the IPO proceeds into Islamic schemes. The results reflected strong demand for oil, petrochemicals and product transportation from across the world.

Engineer Abdullah Al Shuraim, Chairman of Gulf Navigation Holding PJSC said: "After our successful IPO and a smooth listing process, we are pleased to justify the confidence and support of our investors by posting these impressive results. GulfNav's first quarter performance is marked by robust demand for our services from around the world. It also indicates that the operational efficiencies we had instituted in managing our business are taking effect."

Commenting on the company's activities during the remainder of the year, Engineer Al Shuraim added: "We plan to implement our growth strategy to increase the fleet capacity by 30% in 2007. We expect strong growth in our oil and petrochemicals transportation business for the next few months. We shall also take delivery of our new very large crude carrier (VLCC) with a capacity to carry 2 million barrels of oil by the end of Aug this year."

Engineer Al Shuraim said that GULFNAV's strength came from purchasing six (PROBOS) product tankers at a cost of AED 448 million and chartered for up to three years and acquiring one VLCC at a price of AED 403 million. He highlighted the importance of a key GULFNAV investment of AED 800 million in building four chemical tankers in Korea and chartering to SABIC for 15 years by the middle of next year. It is also getting two sophisticated chemical tankers built at Shina yard, Korea, at a cost of AED 430 million. It will be delivered by mid 2009.

The company operates through a fully integrated organization structure, which provides the full spectrum of services related to crude oil and liquid chemicals transportation, maritime commercial agencies, vessels technical management, and vessels agency services.