Dubai, UAE ; 29 February 2012: Depa Limited (ticker DEPA) ('Depa' or the 'Company'), one of world's leading interior contracting companies, today issued a trading statement ahead of announcing 2011 year end results towards the end of March 2012. From the start of the new financial year, and on-going, Depa will report its financials on a quarterly basis.
Revenues for the full year 2011 are expected to be in line with 2010, slightly down on prior market guidance. Despite this, gross profits are likely to be higher than 2010 due to timely and efficient project execution and at a margin level similar to 2009. Net profits will be impacted by higher than normal G&A costs due to the retention of a larger number of staff to strengthen the Company's Middle East business in anticipation of mega contracts coming on stream, which took longer to sign, and therefore start, than expected. Net profit will also be affected by further amortisation of intangibles at Design Studio and depreciation and amortization of the recently installed ERP system.
Depa's backlog continues to run at near record levels and as at 31 December 2011 stood at AED 3.8 billion. Over the course of 2011, Depa signed a number of major new projects including a AED 929 million contract for the 27 lounges at Doha's new international airport; the largest contract signed in the Company's history. Depa also continues to have a strong pipeline of contract letters of intent. Depa is close to signing contracts in Saudi Arabia and in Singapore for significant new projects.
During the course of the year, Depa continued its diversification strategy winning an increasing amount of business outside the UAE with major projects in Azerbaijan, India, Malaysia, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Singapore. In addition, Depa increased the proportion of work from government related infrastructure work including airports and medical centres. As part of its vertical integration strategy, Design Studio opened its new factory in China in September 2011 to support its manufacturing requirements.
Depa's balance sheet remains strong and, as in previous years, the Company saw strong cash collection in the final months of 2011 and consequently an improvement in receivables. 
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© Press Release 2012
