Latest news with #DerekNicholson
The National
05-08-2025
- Business
- The National
Alpha Dhabi 'exploring' building UAE data centres amid AI boom
Alpha Dhabi Holding, a unit of Abu Dhabi's International Holding Company, is open to 'indirectly' tapping into the UAE's growing data centre scene as it continues to expand its portfolio, a senior executive said on Tuesday. The investment company, with total assets of nearly Dh200 billion ($54.5 billion), does not have specific plans to invest in data centres, but would consider building the facilities, which are key components of the artificial intelligence boom, chief strategy and investor relations officer Derek Nicholson told The National. 'Indirectly, we can participate in some of the [technology] transformation that's happening here in the UAE … someone has to build [the data centres], so we could build that through our construction division and we're actively exploring opportunities,' he said, speaking at a media round-table in Abu Dhabi. Mr Nicholson was referring to Trojan Construction Group, which he said could create a division to build data centres. Alpha Dhabi was known as Trojan Holding before a rebrand and initial public offering in 2021. 'This is a significant growth area for that [as they are] going to be the construction projects of the future and if you can deliver and specialise in that, there can be significant new markets that can be available to us,' Mr Nicholson added. The UAE, Abu Dhabi in particular, has made a flurry of moves to advance its technology sector, especially amid the AI boom, such as the 1-gigawatt Stargate data centre to be built in the UAE capital. 'If we see something in data centres, then we could consider it and it would go through our investment screening process,' Mr Nicholson said. 'We have a lot of capital that we're looking to deploy and our job is to find the best ones.' Alpha Dhabi has plans to float more of its companies, although it has yet to determine how many, which ones and when, Mr Nicholson said. The listings would most probably be on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, owing to the strength of the emirate's stock market, he added. 'When we think [our companies] reach the right level, then they're ready to go on the stock market,' he said. Tariff impact 'virtually zero' The sweeping tariffs imposed by the US government have had 'virtually zero' impact on Alpha Dhabi's business, owing to 'very detailed due diligence', Mr Nicholson said. 'If we were going to invest in a particular country or a sector, we would look to see if there was any impact on the tariffs, but the tariffs have had virtually zero impact on our business,' he said. Net profit for the three months ending in June soared more than 117 per cent year-on-year to Dh4.53 billion, the company said in a filing to ADX, where its shares trade. Revenue for the period jumped nearly 22 per cent year-on-year to Dh18.43 billion. For the first half of 2025, Alpha Dhabi's profit inched down 0.7 per cent annually to Dh6.63 billion, despite a decrease in non-recurring accounting adjustments of Dh1.4 billion. Revenue for the six-month period leapt 22.3 per cent year-on-year to Dh35.85 billion, while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation – a key metric for profitability – jumped 34 per cent to Dh8.4 billion. Alpha Dhabi's industrial portfolio made the biggest contribution to its first-half revenue with Dh13.4 billion, followed by real estate's Dh12.8 billion and construction's Dh6 billion. 'The majority of our revenues are growing. There's a lot of tailwinds that are coming in from the initiatives that the [UAE] government is launching [and] we're benefitting from that,' Mr Nicholson said. 'Our companies are doing exceptionally well in terms of the growth that they're achieving.' Alpha Dhabi has grown into a regional conglomerate with interests in construction, health care, hospitality and industry after completing a series of acquisitions in 2021 and 2022. The conglomerate, through its entities, has been investing in Europe, the US and Africa. Among the biggest names under Alpha Dhabi's portfolio are Aldar Properties, Abu Dhabi's biggest listed developer; Pure Health, the largest health care group in the Middle East and North Africa; NMDC Group, the biggest engineering, procurement and construction company in the Middle East, and Trojan Construction, the industry's top group in the UAE. In May, Alpha Dhabi signed a partnership agreement with Abu Dhabi's Al Jazira Sports Club to run until the end of the 2027-28 football season.
National Post
06-05-2025
- General
- National Post
Homes: Old house, new tricks
This midtown renovation by Barbora Vokac Taylor of BVT Architect was completely transformed inside and out. But the success of the project, built by Derek Nicholson Inc., lies in the way Vokac Taylor and her team preserved its relaxed, welcoming family feeling. The result is a home that works as well for its current occupants as it did for the first family that lived here. Article content Article content Article content The clients, who have two school-age children, 'loved the neighbourhood and the house, but it had a few problems,' recalls Vokac Taylor. Being able to accommodate a close-knit extended family that visits regularly was high on the list of needs. Her clients also wanted a better connection to the outdoors; like many early-twentieth-century Toronto houses, the original was a warren of rooms and corridors that cut off natural light. 'It was a wonderful house,' she says, but it didn't suit the way her clients live. Article content The house is on one of the busier streets in the neighbourhood, so a means of adding privacy without making it a fortress was in order. A sequence of stepped poured-concrete paths and low and mid-sized planters culminate in a 90-degree turn to a stoop leading up to the front door, which is set in a shallow recess, a modern incarnation of a sheltered porch. Panels lining the recess contain the first of several small surprises. Made of a weathering steel designed to oxidize naturally over time to a rich patina, the panels are perforated, creating light patterns that evoke dappled sunlight through leaves. Article content Article content For the front facade, classic elements like a two-storey bay window, top-floor shed dormer and recessed front porch were retained but updated. The bay window is now a single, squared-off glass-and-steel volume spans both storeys unbroken. Article content Inside, the foyer, brightened by light from a large window next to the door, maintains the original placement of the staircase to the left, with a built-in bench for removing boots (now fully modernized and finished with an elegant marble plinth). To the right, the former living room is now the dining room. It's a move that makes sense for a modern family accustomed to welcoming hordes of family for dinner: the gap in a partition separating it from the foyer allows diners to see who's coming in, and those who've just arrived to see who's already there. Article content 'There are rituals about the way we live that are still relevant,' says Vokac Taylor. 'We like a sense of spaciousness, but divisions within the spaces of a house give us a sense of intimacy or scale.' Article content Article content The original living room fireplace remains, now tucked within a cool, blackened-steel panel. Above, plain-sawn walnut cabinets add both warmth and storage; a solid verde antico marble slab creates a bench for seating or an additional surface. On the partition side, a banquette runs the full length of the wall right across the opening, pulling this side of the room together nicely.
