Gulf Cement managed to reduce its net losses by 88% in 2012 to $1.8m (AED: 6.7m), compared with a $15m loss in 2011.

The company s sales edged up by 1% to $165.3m, but selling costs and finance charges both reduced and the profit it made from investments increased by 23% to $6.3m. The firm also said that losses reduced due to the "slight improvement in cement selling price".

Newly-filed accounts also reveal that Gulf Cement took out a loan of $51.7m (AED: 190m) during the year, which it is using to finance "the purchase of property, plant and equipment".

Some $7.7m (AED: 28.2m) of this had already been drawn down by the end of the year, and the loan carried an interest rate of 2.5% above the three-month LIBOR rate.