EFS Facilities Services believes its best years are ahead after the company revealed a surge in contract wins in the first half of the year.
The facilities management specialist clocked up deals worth a combined AED 200mn ($54.5mn), including a AED 150mn contract with an oil and gas player in the UAE and KSA, to end the six months to 30 June with a record backlog of AED 3.2bn.
The UAE accounted for well over 60 percent of the cumulative awards, with the remaining share distributed among other major markets such as Kuwait, Bahrain, KSA and India.
Commenting on the results, Tariq Chauhan, Group Chief Executive Officer said: EFS Facilities continues to grow from strength to strength as we consolidate our leadership position in key markets across the Middle East, Africa, South Asia and Turkey.
H1 2016 is one of the most important periods in EFS history since inception in 2000. We crossed the milestone of AED 3bn in contract backlog for the first time, while expanding our services portfolio to include more than 75 service lines spanning 15 business verticals in 4 business sectors.
Chauhan added: We diversified our comprehensive services portfolio through the acquisition of a security services firm in the UAE and launched our operations in Turkey. We also established a waste management division in the UAE while entering into strategic partnerships with industrial leaders whose skill sets and know-how complemented ours.
Looking ahead, Chauhan said the regional FM industry is poised to enter a period of significant growth thanks to opportunities presented by Expo 2020 and the 2022 FIFA World Cup. However he also identified Egypt and India as two very promising markets for the company in the coming years.
We believe that the priority markets in terms of potential growth for EFS remain the UAE, India and Egypt which are currently dealing with a considerable demand and supply gap for professional FM services, he said.
We are exploring promising acquisition avenues in India to boost our presence, as well as expanding on our scope of Joint Venture activities for the Palm Hills development in Egypt.