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Ceramics major Porcelanosa eyeing huge growth in UAE

The UAE is a promising growth market for the construction industry due to huge government spending on infrastructure ahead of Expo 2020 Dubai, which will drive business and economic activity in the country, according to an industry official.
Ammar Hayani, managing director of Porcelanosa Dubai, said companies in the construction material business will have a good time ahead after a slowdown in the region last year. He is confident of the bright outlook for the company in the GCC in general and the UAE in particular due to massive infrastructure spending in the region.
"In 2018, our sales grew almost 12 per cent, which is slower than the annual average growth of 35 per cent during 2015 to 2017. However, we are expecting a 20 per cent growth in 2019 as many of the Expo 2020 projects are nearing completion and are now looking into finishings, which is where most our products stand," Hayani told Khaleej Times on Wednesday.
Porcelanosa, founded in 1973 in Spanish city of Villarreal, is a global leader in the innovation, design, manufacturing and distribution of luxury tile, kitchen and bath products. It has a presence in 160 countries through more than 885 company points of sale including exclusive showrooms, logistic centres and an extensive network of independent distributors, retailers and associates.
Dubai a commercial hub
Talking to Khaleej Times ahead of the opening of a new Porcelanosa showroom at Sheikh Zayed Road today, Hayani said the Spanish brand has a strong presence in the UAE and GCC region.
"While Dubai remains our hub for the region and the UAE, we have 15 points of sale in the GCC. Our products are available in the cities of Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Al Ahsa, Kuwait and Manama," he said. He said regional projects are currently handled from a technical office in Dubai owned and managed directly by Porcelanosa Dubai, while retail is reliant on local distributors.
"An increased demand of products in the retail sector has necessitated the launch of an exclusive anchor showroom dedicated to the sector," he said.
"Abu Dhabi is in our short-term expansion plans within the UAE. However, we are exploring the possibility of launching retail in Al Ain in the medium term as we have seen increasing demand of our products from that part of the Emirates," he added.
On Porcelanosa clients in the UAE, he said the company provides its products to major developers such as Emaar, Nakheel and Omniyat, among others.
"We have supplied materials in projects executed for major developers such the Address Hotels by Emaar, Nakheel Mall at the Palm and Omniyat," he said.
"We are working with interior design firms such as Zaha Hadid Architects or Foster & Partners who specify our products in high end projects. We have global supply agreements with hotel chains such as Hilton and Sheraton," he added.
No more slowdown
Hayani said there was a slowdown in the market last year - but this isn't the case anymore due to positive indicators for the UAE economy, which is expected to lead economic growth in the region.
"It is true that our growth in the market has slowed down in 2018. However, this is only due to a plateauing effect as a result of the immense growth we experienced in the previous years, where we managed to grow by an average 35 per cent year-on-year basis from 2015 to 2017," he said.
"While we are also expecting the slowdown to continue in 2019, we are very optimistic about the robustness of the markets in the Emirates and future plans of its government."
Regionally, he said the GCC has always been a key market for us and with numerous initiatives such as the Expo 2020 and Saudi Vision 2030 we are highly optimistic about the middle-term market situation." To a question, he said the GCC is a competitive market and Porcelanosa stays ahead in the competition because of its quality products.
"Competition is one of the major challenges in the GCC. The Gulf region is a very attractive market for us, but at the same time it is also attractive for competitors. Although, our products are targeting higher income clients, our competitors have also increased their efforts in targeting the GCC markets," Hayani concluded.
- muzaffarrizvi@khaleejtimes.com