Arabtec Holding (Arabtec) could break even this year and should return to profit in 2017, said Mohamed Al-Rimaithi, company’s chairman, on the sidelines of Arabtec’s annual shareholder meeting. Al-Rumaithi sees more room for cost saving, which may include further job cuts. Al-Rimaithi also confirmed that Arabtec will continue to focus on core operations and divest away from non-construction related activities. Regarding the planned project in Egypt, Arabtec is awaiting feedback from the Egyptian authorities, confirming project has to be profitable in order to be executed. Moreover, Arabtec aims to penetrate the Indian market and strengthen its presence in Saudi Arabia.   Our comment: Al-Rimaithi’s statement that the company will break-even in 2016 and post a profit in 2017 is in line with our forecasts. We note that Arabtec has had a good start to the year as far as securing new awards is concerned (AED7.2 billion in our estimate, cAED9 billion according to Al-Rimaithi) – the execution of which would drive revenue growth over the coming three years. This also preserves margins, giving Arabtec room to selectively chose projects for the rest of the year. We see room for further cost cutting, but note that the bulk has been completed, as the company streamlines its operations away from the widely expansive strategy undertaken by its former CEO. We do not account for the Egypt project in our numbers, given its unclear structure and timeline. We also note that the statement regarding intentions to strengthen its position in the Saudi market comes in contradiction with both, management guidance and Arabtec’s latest decisions to divest five Saudi subsidiaries in 2014-15. We are seeking clarity from management on this statement. (Arabian Business, Bloomberg, Mai Attia, Sara Boutros)