Strong sales over the past year and decisions to restructure investments have put Saudi Arabian Amiantit Company in a buoyant mood.

The company recorded sales of SR3.1 billion ($827 million) in 2007, up 17 per cent over 2006, while net profits reached approximately SR64 million compared with SR20.8 million, a 208 per cent increase.
CEO and managing director Fareed Al Khalawi announced recently that the company would double production of its GRP pipes and tanks in the Gulf to a maximum of 150,000 tonnes.
Al Khalawi, in recent remarks, said investment in the capacity expansion would not be much as the company already owned “most elements of basic facilities and infrastructure.” He added that the technology division was directly supervising the process of expanding production capacity and supporting new production lines with the latest developments in Flowtite, the technology owned and licensed by Amiantit.
“Amiantit is characterised by rational consumption of raw materials, which is seeing dramatic high prices, and will certainly help the company fulfill its contracted orders in the kingdom and GCC region.”
Spending would be SR100 million on its Saudi plants, he had said. 
He said the investment decision would facilitate Amiantit’s plans to make a greater contribution in the areas of potable water, sanitary drainage facilities and water management.
Amiantit last year closed down its US factory following losses. It also sold a major portion of its shares in its Brazil and Argentina factories.
Al Khalawi said the sale of the US factory and of shares in the South American companies was in line with restructuring investments in the international sector to focus mainly on the developing markets of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.
Amiantit and Gulf One Investment Bank have forged a strategic partnership in water management and infrastructure projects. Al Khalawi commented that the partnership was dictated by the nature of long-term water management projects. Amiantit was studying several investment opportunities and holding talks with companies for building and managing projects and finding appropriate funding. He described Gulf One Investment Bank as a renowned consulting house in the field in which the partnership would operate.
Last year, Tawzea, a company Amiantit equally owns with Sisco, won large contracts that will keep it busy for 30 years. The contracts include the operation, management and maintenance of portable water utilities in the industrial areas of Jeddah and Riyadh.
Among recent Amiantit contracts were two won by Amiantit Fibreglass Industries Ltd (Afil), one of which was placed for a Marafiq project in Jubail and worth 11 million euros.
The other Afil contract, involving a desalination plant in Ras Al Zawr, is worth 7.4 million euros.
The Amiantit group also reported that Amiantit Polyolefin Piping Systems Company had won an order worth 5.6 million euros to supply high-density polyethylene pipes for Al Jazea projects in Jizan and Qassim.
Al Khalawi said increased prosperity in regions as far apart as Asia and Latin America was fuelling a boom in infrastructure projects.
The group’s Spanish subsidiary, Amitech Spain, bagged three contracts worth a total of 8 million euros.
Amiantit’s core business activities comprise the manufacture and sale of pipe systems, ownership and sale of pipe technologies, the provision of water management consultancy and engineering services and the manufacture and supply of polymer products.
The company has some 30 pipe system manufacturing plants, six technology firms, four materials suppliers and eight supply and engineering subsidiaries around the globe. Its pipe products comprise glass-reinforced polyester pipes, glass-reinforced epoxy pipes, thermoplastic pipes, ductile iron pipes and concrete pipes.