Saudi-based Red Sea Housing Services (RSH), a leading provider of remote site housing solutions, said its operating income for the second quarter jumped 22.9 per cent when compared to the same period last year.

Announcing the results on Saturday, RSH chairman Dr. Majid Al Kassabi, said the company’s operating income soared to SR23.26 million during the second quarter from SR18.93 million last year.

Hailing the results, Dr Al Kassabi said the encouraging performance of  RSH and its increasing reputation worldwide have helped the company to secure major contracts.

“We are pleased with the company’s improvement in operating profits during the second quarter of this year. This reflects the scope of development the company has experienced and the improvement of operating income achieved during the past three months,” said Dr Al Kassabi.

He pointed out that the company had suffered during this period from a preliminary court ruling in Algeria to pay customs duties and penalties.

"As a result, RSH has booked a provision of SR 10.2 million which was charged to the interim consolidated income statement for the past three months ending on 30 June, 2010, generating lower net profits."

"This has resulted in a 22 per cent decrease instead of a 37.71 per cent increase in net profits for the second quarter, compared to the same period last year," he added.
 
Dr Al Kassabi stressed the importance of RSH’s contribution to the comprehensive economic development in Saudi Arabia in terms of supporting major Saudi organizations with its outstanding housing solutions.

“Our quality products provided to these companies are coupled with the government’s spending on developing the energy sector, the infrastructure and the national development, as we are planning to further expand in our core markets in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. This enhances the expectations of RSH in the continuation of stability in 2010 and more development in 2011,” he noted.

He said the second quarter results have been solid as it succeeded in securing new big orders with a total value of SR590 million, representing the company’s highest total volume of orders in the company’s history.

As reported earlier, RSH recorded another achievement when it was awarded the  SR480 million ($127.9 million) contract by Chiyoda-JGC Joint Venture to engineer, manufacture and construct a major housing facility for Papua New Guinea’s Liquefied Natural Gas project on the bay of Papua. This was its biggest single contact to date.

The facility is planned to be completed by 2011 and is operated by Esso Highlands Limited, a subsidiary of Exxon Mobile Corporation, on behalf of the co-ventures which include Oil Search, Santos, Nippon Oil, Mineral Resource Development Company (MRDC) and Eda Oil.-TradeArabia News Service