Dubai - Arabtec chairman remains confident at rare news conference

Arabtec is Dubai's largest construction company which has played a key role in raising the skyscrapers, fancy villas and other buildings that have transformed the city into the Middle East's commercial hub. Its operations extend beyond the Gulf, including an ambitious $40 billion housing initiative launched earlier this year in Egypt. Investors' confidence in the company has plunged in recent weeks following a series of setbacks, with shares tumbling by as much as 70 percent from their peak in May. The rout has dragged down the broader Dubai stock market, rekindling concerns about financial stability in the emirate following its 2009 financial crisis. At a rare news conference, Arabtec's chairman, Khadem al-Qubaisi, appeared confident, blaming the recent blip in market confidence on political unrest in the region. "This is not only Arabtec, I think all the stock market came down, there is a lot of political things happening in the Middle East. I disagree with you that Arabtec is behind all this crash in the Middle East and the stock market in Dubai and Abu Dhabi." At the company's first news conference since the tumult began, Al-Qubaisi also crushed speculation that Arabtec might delist from the DFM. "The company and the stock will continue in Dubai stock market no change at all. Regarding Aabar, yes maybe there is a possibility for us to increase our stake in the near future." He's talking about Aabar Investments, a major shareholder at Arabtec, and backed by the Abu Dhabi government, which last month cut its stake in the company from more than 21 percent to just under 19 percent. Weeks later, CEO Hasan Ismaik resigned but retained a sizable stake in the firm, and Arabtec announced a restructuring involving job cuts. The announcement prompted stocks to fall by 6.7 percent. Al-Qubaisi bats away the issue of job cuts, referring instead to the success of the multi-billion dollar housing initiative in Egypt: "The projects are in good shape, we terminated a few people but there is no effect at all." And he says there might be more job cuts: "Management is still capable of running the business, actually the productivity increased, efficiency increased. And this is why just to assure you, if there is any fat, I will remove it in the next few weeks. I will not keep this fat in this entity," he explains. The company has already started looking for a strong candidate to fill the position left vacant by CEO Hasan Ismaik. Al-Qubaisi has promised that the company will be more transparent in the upcoming few months. Arabtec shares were up almost 15 percent when the Dubai market closed today, with the DFM up eight percent. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/2c885a5a5137633fb791cf8ed2e73ca1 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork