‘Very positive’: CEO of Yorkshire firm which opened Dubai hub provides update amid Iran conflict
The boss of a Yorkshire flooring firm which last year opened a hub in Dubai has said he remains “very positive” about the United Arab Emirates, as the company continues its operations in the region despite the ongoing Iran war.
Speaking to The Yorkshire Post, Médéric Payne, chief executive officer of Airea, said that the company was currently undertaking crisis management, but that he was “confident” in how things would be handled in Dubai.
In January of last year, Wakefield-based Airea announced that it had opened a sales showroom in Dubai, designed to serve as its strategic hub to the Middle East. The company employs two people at the site.
Mr Payne said that it was mostly “business as usual” for companies in the region, adding: “There's a few things that have been curtailed, but I've lived there for eight years, and many of the local authorities are looking very positively on companies like ours, who are maintaining an interest.
“A couple of our competitors, notably Americans, have closed shop and got their people out. That has gone down badly. I know it sounds funny, but the Government wants to keep a sense of serenity, of ‘keep calm and carry on’.
“You know, a lot of people are safe. I mean, we can't rule out any falling debris, but we're not in a targeted zone of danger. So we've got constant management, crisis management going on. But we were positive.
“I'm very positive about the UAE. I'm very positive about how the country handles things generally, having lived there or through covid. And I think that we will probably, if we maintain what we're doing and keep showing our commitment, come out of this stronger than before.”
It comes after the Financial Times reported that Millennium Management, a US hedge fund, was exploring ways to re-settle staff to Jersey after they requested a move out of Dubai.
The firm previously held over 100 employees in Dubai prior to the start of the war, but is reportedly prepared to expand its presence in the Channel Island for staff who have requested a move out of the UAE.
Located in the Al Quoz district of Western Dubai, Airea’s Middle East hub has been used to serve markets including India, Australia and Singapore.
Earlier this month, smoke was seen in the skies over the Al Quoz district after Dubai authorities said that debris from a “successful interception” had caused a fire in the region.
Speaking on the wider impacts of the conflict, Mr Payne said that Airea had witnessed rising logistics costs in the Port of Jeddah, which had come on the back of shipments being redirected from the Strait of Hormuz.
He added, however, that these costs had largely hit its customers, rather than the company incurring them.
The Airea chief said that despite other companies in the region being affected by the ongoing conflict, the West Yorkshire firm had seen minimal disruption to its operations.
He said that this was in large part due to the company being in the early days of its international expansion.
He added: “I think partly it's because of where we are in our curve. Some of the companies that are there, who are very big in Dubai, we know they are suffering because they've got big teams, big overheads. They've got some huge business already in place, and they're suddenly seeing a big disruption to their activity.
“The way we've handled it initially, and where we happen to be at, means we're a bit more protected, because we're just now ramping up having only opened a year ago.”
His comments came as the West Yorkshire firm announced its annual results for 2025, in which the firm saw revenue lift by one per cent to £21.45m, while operating profits lifted from £693m to £916m.
Airea is currently working on a major revamp of its Wakefield facilities.
Mr Payne said the launch of the new facility was behind the firm’s original timeline by a couple of months due additional work and the company entering a busy period.
The company said the new facility is expected to be “fully operational in the coming months”.
Mr Payne added: “The switch over has to be delicate. The volume ranks up in May, June, July, because that's our peak, if you like. So what you don't want to do is cross over that.
“We are a couple of months out of our original timing, but that's because of the additional work. So we will be phasing that over the summer as a result of the activity that we're about to embark on.
"Theres a bit of me that would like to go a little bit faster, but we've just got to make sure that we don't disrupt our work. We're seeing a very good healthy order book.”