Dubai-based cable seal supplier
Roxtec Middle East FZE is celebrating its 25th year in business in the UAE with its best-ever year of trading. The company, which is headquartered in the Jebel Ali Freezone, covers the MENA region and started with just two staff members in 2000. Today the Swedish-owned company has a team of 35 and posted sales of $15 million in the last 12 months – doubling turnover since 2022.
Roxtec Middle East FZE managing director Firas Kafafi said the company is seeing a sales spike in line with the MENA region’s expansion in new markets such as clean energy and data centres. He said the turbo-charged growth in AI and cloud computing has driven the company’s sales in data centres alone by 300% since 2022.
More growth is set to come as Roxtec is being specified on the next generation of high-performance computing data centres, being constructed in the UAE to handle intensive AI and Big Data workloads. In addition, clean energy sales have grown by 20% in the last year as Roxtec supplies projects ranging from green hydrogen, carbon capture, battery storage and offshore wind.
Mr Kafafi added: “We would like to thank all our customers, suppliers and team members here in Dubai and across the MENA region for supporting us in the last 25 years. We fully support the drive to diversify the region’s economy and are evolving to meet the needs of new industries. I fully expect to see turnover rise to $20 million by 2030. We already have full-time sales engineers in Iraq, Jordan and North Africa and next year we will open an office in Abu Dhabi.
Standalone subsidiaryIn addition, we will be expanding our network of distributors beyond the existing setup we have in Oman, Qatar, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Kuwait and Morocco. Furthermore, we fully expect Roxtec Saudi Arabia to continue its growth — we helped establish the Roxtec Saudi Arabia office in 2020 and are proud to see it now operate as a standalone subsidiary within the Roxtec Group.”
Mr Kafafi said demand for safety seals protecting buildings, people and assets further remains robust in traditional industries like oil and gas, ship building and ship repair where Roxtec MENA is working with leading companies like ADNOC, ARAMCO and QE on high profile deals including Project Lightning, the first subsea power cable connection project in the Gulf region.
He said: “Roxtec’s seals are respected worldwide as being meticulously tested and proven in multiple industries from oil and gas and wind farms to maritime, rail and construction. It is brilliant to see our footprint grow in the MENA region over the last 25 years driven by our innovative cable and pipe transit systems which can protect cable and pipe penetrations and thereby life and assets from a wide range of hazards. That includes fire, the risk of explosion, water ingress, air leakage, vibration and electromagnetic interference.”
To cater to the growing needs of the MENA market Mr Kafafi said Roxtec has launched two new products this year, the Roxtec FlamePlus which offers a sealing system for modular and prefabricated buildings, while the Roxtec Software Suite offers a digital lifecycle management platform for cable and pipe transits.