Tabreed's new board of directors endorses new business strategy

Tabreed Chairman Khadem Al Qubaisi, said that over a decade of successful operation, Tabreed had grown to become the largest company of its kind in the world.

"Having pioneered district cooling in the Arab World in 1998, Tabreed has since enjoyed more than a decade of success, providing a solid return on investment (ROI) to its shareholders,"

he said.

"We are now ready to embark on a new phase of development which will see the implementation of a new strategy, some refinements to the management structure to boost company revenues and investors' benefits," he added

Al Qubaisi adds that Tabreed is one of the few utility companies in the world that has successfully built a sustainable and integrated platform in a short span of time. Tabreed has accomplished a milestone of significant achievements in the region and has since provided environment-friendly solutions such as district cooling energy.

"Tabreed is always in the process of a continued corporate evolution maturing into a more responsive as well as a progressive public company. Through the years, Tabreed's name became synonymous to a reliable and stable provider of district cooling energy in the Middle East region," he said.

As part of this evolution, Karl Marietta will replace Dany Safi as CEO. He is currently the Deputy CEO and has been with Tabreed since its inception. Dany Safi will remain on the Board of Directors and has been appointed a special advisor to the Board.

The Board also endorsed Tabreed's audited figures which saw the company post revenues of Dhs173.37m for the second quarter of the 2008 financial year, a 42% increase over the second quarter of 2007.

"In the second quarter of 2008, Tabreed posted gross profit of Dhs76.35m, up from Dhs58.23m in the 2007 quarter while the company's net profit increased to Dhs23.5m as compared to Dhs12.72m in the same quarter in 2007,"

he added.

New CEO Karl Marietta said the first half performance was excellent, but the longer term potential of Tabreed is even greater once the restructuring is implemented.

"This is an exciting era for Tabreed to revolutionise its operation and focus more on the investments of our shareholders. As the company rolls out its integrated platforms, Tabreed will be able to meet the growing demands for district cooling worldwide," Marietta said.

Figures show as of 2007 Tabreed provides cooling services to close on 500 buildings across the GCC covering a total of 149.9 million square feet.

"Tabreed's ten-year objective aims to supply environment-friendly solutions not only in the Middle East region but across the globe. Tabreed now serves over 300,000 tons of refrigeration loads. This effort has reduced UAE's electrical consumption by over 200 megawatts." he explained. "The new look for the company was outlined back in July and a second phase of studies currently being conducted by world-renowned management consultants, the results of which will be announced in the next coming months."

Tabreed's major strategic platforms will be announced very soon. This new modification and refocusing within Tabreed will have very beneficial effect on the company's profit as well as shareholder values.