NATIONAL Marketing Establishment has been actively pursuing new business opportunities while focusing on product development – a strategy that has served the pipes and fittings specialist well over the past year.

Despite the sudden dip in business levels in the final quarter of last year, the Jeddah-base firm, the parent company of the IKK Group of Companies of Saudi Arabia, reports that it has been able to sustain its business levels without any setbacks.
Established in 1970 in Jeddah as the sole distributor and marketing department of New Products Industries (Nepro) Factory, National Marketing Establishment has grown considerably since then and today has 20 branches with warehouse facilities all over the kingdom. Today, the company is the largest company in Saudi Arabia in its line of specialisation and is ranked 39th among the top 100 companies in Saudi in 2008, according to Samir J Kadi, general manager.
The Jeddah-based firm markets PVC (polyvinyl chloride) and cPVC (chlorinated polyvinyl chloride) pipes and fittings from Nepro, while also representing reputed manufacturers from Europe and the US for PVC and cPVC piping system accessories for water networks, electrical conduits and well casing that are not produced by Nepro.
“The company has benefited significantly from the construction boom in the area and was able to continue to grow its business year on year. We achieved considerable growth last year and although in the fourth quarter there was a sudden slowdown in business due to the global financial crisis, overall the company managed to deal with it and maintain a positive cash flow to keep its business running,” says Kadi. “In fact, last year was better than 2007 due to the growth National Marketing achieved during the year.”
He says the company has witnessed an increase in sales volumes, with clients appreciating the quality offered by its products and the benefits of using them especially in the construction of housing, apartments, hospitals, schools and shopping malls.
“National Marketing has exceeded its targets and increased its output compared with 2007, in response to an increase in demand in the private and government sectors. The overall growth in the public and private sectors, besides the expansion plans of Saudi Aramco and Sabic has also been a contributing factor,” Kadi comments.
Product development has been a major focus area for growth. “We recently established a new office for product development within our organisation, focusing on developing new products to diversify our product portfolio. The company, with its partners Nepro and principal supplier of Lubrizol cPVC raw material, is also looking at introducing several new product lines which will be announced once they are ready for the market.”
Among such products are PPR (polypropylene random) and HDPE (high-density polyethylene) product lines for pipes and fittings, which will be launched on the market this year to meet the increasing demand for such products in
recent years.
National Marketing is cautiously optimistic about next year and has plans boost to its product offering, to continue to grow its business and increase its market share in Saudi Arabia and the neighbouring countries, he adds. The company will also expand its presence to cater to areas that have not been served well by the pipes and fittings industry.
Nepro was the pioneer producer of PVC pipes in Saudi Arabia, which launched operations in 1970 and today produces uPVC, cPVC pipes and accessories in a variety of sizes and standards for application areas, as water supply projects, irrigation systems, sewage networks, sub-surface water drain systems, electrical and telecommunication duct networks.