The company posted a net profit of $18m in the January-March period Abu Dhabi contractor National Marine Dredging Company’s net profit in the first quarter of 2022 more than doubled as the industry gained momentum in the post-Covid era. The company, an engineering, procurement, construction and marine dredging contractor in the Middle East, reported a net profit of Dh65.3 million ($18m) in the period ending March 31, compared to Dh27m in the same period in 2021, NMDC said in a regulatory filing on Monday to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, where its shares are traded. The company's revenue jumped almost 33 per cent on a quarterly basis to Dh1.55 billion in the first three months of the year, primarily driven by continued progress on various projects, including Hail and Ghasha offshore fields in the UAE and long-term agreements with Aramco in Saudi Arabia, the company said. The UAE accounted for 52 per cent of NMDC’s total revenue in the first three months of the year, while 48 per cent was generated from international market, with Saudi Arabia constituting 27 per cent and Egypt 18 per cent, it added. Last month, the Egyptian currency went through a devaluation, as a result of which, Dh16m in foreign currency losses were recorded in the company’s consolidated income statement. “Covid-19 imposed a number of challenges on the organisation spanning across operational and commercial affairs. The spread of the pandemic and the resulting safety and financial precautions to contain its impact, forced us to deal with a situation in which maintaining safety, positive cash flows and continuity of operations at current projects became conflicting in nature,” the company said. To mitigate the impact of the pandemic, NMDC took a number of strategic and tactical measures, including “working out a new financial strategy to maintain healthy levels of liquidity and cash flow through savings and contracts optimisation”, among others. During the first quarter, NMDC said it invested Dh55m in capital expenditure, which mainly comprised “expenditure on dry docking / upgrade of dredgers and support equipment”. New projects secured by NMDC in the first quarter include Dh3.47m Umm Shaif Field project from Adnoc and Dh79m worth of dredging works at the entrance to the navigation channel and the trench of the quay wall in Safaga Port in Egypt, NMDC said.