Dubai, Apr 16 (Khaleej Times): Danube Building Materials, a leader in construction, building materials and shop fitting industries, has inaugurated a Dh50 million showroom in Saudi Arabia.

The Dubai-based firm also plans eight more outlets by the end of 2012 worth over Dh200 million, its top official said. 

"We see strong demand for building materials in Saudi Arabia, so Danube will continue its investment and our target is to open 10 showrooms (in Saudi Arabia) by the end of next year. Total investment in the Kingdom is expected to cross Dh300 million," Danube Group chairman Rizwan Sajan told Khaleej Times.

The company now has a total of over 26 global retail facilities - 17 in the UAE, three in India, two in Oman, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

The company has also invested Dh50 million in a new manufacturing plant in Dubai. The new facility, which is spread over 1.3 million square feet in Dubai TechnoPark will open in mid-2011.

Ahmad Hamza Awadh, director, Jeddah municipality, led the opening of the new integrated showroom and warehouse facility. Located in the heart of the Jeddah industrial area, the new showroom is part of Danube’s strategic move towards creating a strong market presence in the Middle East construction industry and meeting its goal of achieving $1 billion in revenue by the year 2015, the company said in a statement.

"Opening our new KSA showroom proves to be strategic and reflects perfect timing as recent reports have shown that Saudi Arabia currently has a 38 per cent share of the total construction projects in the region and has over $624 billion in current and planned projects, " Sajan said.

"The strategic location of the new facility combined with our comprehensive product portfolio of essential building materials gives us the opportunity to reach out to new target customers. The move is also part of our continuing efforts to consolidate our presence in the Middle East region’s thriving construction industry,” Sajan said.

Danube’s new showroom measures 5,000 square feet while the warehouse, which is also the company’s first completely covered storage facility, measures 150,000 square feet. Danube’s move to open new showrooms across the region follows the impressive 25 per cent rise in its revenues in 2010. With the healthy show of activity across various construction projects in the region, the company is expecting to post in similar growth for 2011 and increasing its revenues to Dh1.6 billion.

"Danube remains steadfast in its key efforts to become a major part of the development and progress that the region is currently experiencing. The opening of new showrooms across the region is not only part of our move to reach a target revenue of about $1 billion by the year 2015 but also reflects our long term commitment to leverage our world class high quality building materials across the various construction and development projects in the region," Sajan said.