EMSTEEL Q3 profit nearly doubles to 190.2 million dirhams

The latest:

Profit attributable to shareholders of UAE building materials producer EMSTEEL climbed 99.3% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2026 to 190.2 million dirhams, up from 95.4 million dirhams a year earlier. Revenue in the quarter rose 14.8% to 2.49 billion dirhams. The company attributed the performance to operational discipline and tight cost control in a volatile environment.

Details:

• The quarterly numbers: Third-quarter profit attributable to shareholders reached 190.2 million dirhams, against 95.4 million dirhams in the same period of 2025, according to the company. Revenue for the three months rose 14.8% to 2.49 billion dirhams, compared with 2.169 billion dirhams a year earlier.
• The operating line: Operating profit advanced 74.4% to 211.6 million dirhams from 121.3 million dirhams, the company said. Gross profit widened to 326.5 million dirhams from 273.5 million dirhams, meaning the bulk of the quarterly gain came from the operating level rather than one-off items.
• Cost control: General and administrative expenses fell to 88 million dirhams from 138.5 million dirhams in the comparable quarter, a reduction of more than 50 million dirhams. That drop accounts for a substantial share of the improvement in operating profit, alongside the increase in gross profit.
• Nine-month performance: Over the first nine months of 2026, profit attributable to shareholders surged 164.8% to 750.7 million dirhams, against 283.4 million dirhams in the same period last year. Revenue for the nine months rose 8.9% to 7.047 billion dirhams from 6.469 billion dirhams.
• Steel segment: Emirates Steel posted operating profit of 640 million dirhams over the nine months, compared with 249 million dirhams a year earlier, according to the company. Segment revenue reached 6.24 billion dirhams, making steel the dominant contributor to group turnover.
• Cement and blocks: The cement and blocks segment more than doubled operating profit to 192 million dirhams from 84 million dirhams. Segment revenue rose to 807 million dirhams from 519 million dirhams, the fastest proportional revenue growth of the group’s reported business lines.
• Company framing: EMSTEEL said its results reflected operational excellence and disciplined cost management in a volatile environment, which offset part of the impact of higher logistics costs and a decline in exports. The company did not quantify the export decline or the logistics cost increase.
• Portfolio change: At the end of 2025 EMSTEEL divested its non-core pipes division, which in the comparable period had contributed 133 million dirhams in revenue and 31 million dirhams in operating profit. The 2026 figures therefore exclude a unit present in the prior-year base.
• Also: Growth came from stronger operating profit and a steep cut in general and administrative expenses.

Background:

EMSTEEL is listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange and groups the UAE’s steel and building materials operations, chiefly Emirates Steel alongside a cement and blocks business serving construction demand.

Between the lines:

The profit surge is not purely a volume story. Revenue rose 14.8% in the quarter while operating profit rose 74.4%, and administrative expenses fell by more than a third — indicating margin expansion driven by cost structure as much as by sales. The pipes divestment also removes a revenue contributor from the 2026 base, meaning the 8.9% nine-month revenue growth understates like-for-like expansion in the remaining segments.

What’s next

Watch EMSTEEL’s full-year 2026 results for whether the administrative cost reduction holds into a fourth quarter, and for any quantification of the export weakness and logistics cost pressures the company cited.