Perma-Pipe’s (PPIH) Middle East Bet Just Got A Lot More Real

On September 9, Perma-Pipe International Holdings (NASDAQ: PPIH ) reported second-quarter results that showed a company stretching well past its traditional turf. Net sales climbed 24.4% year over year to $59.6 million, but the more telling figure sat inside the backlog. At $142.3 million as of July 31, it was up 17% from $121.6 million at the start of the fiscal year on January 31, with nearly all of it scheduled to convert to revenue within 12 months. Behind that growth sits a pivot from selling pipe to building infrastructure platforms across the Middle East.

Perma-Pipe added $67.8 million in new orders during the quarter, led by oil and gas and infrastructure demand, and management pointed to a $900 million pipeline of active quoting and proposal work still ahead of it. The company's leak detection unit has already locked in 80% of its full-year bookings target, a sign that the shift from selling pipe toward monitoring the infrastructure it builds is gaining traction. Two new plants are doing the heavy lifting behind that growth. The Ohio facility, aimed at the data center market, is ramping toward full production in early 2027, while a Qatar plant came online to serve QatarEnergy and regional customers. Saudi Aramco has separately qualified a new Perma-Pipe product line for its energy expansion program, opening the door to one of the world's largest coating markets.

The most ambitious move is a memorandum of understanding with Welspun to form a joint venture in Jordan, which CEO Saleh Sagr said would let Perma-Pipe "enter the pipe manufacturing market for the first time ever." That venture is tied to Jordan's National Water Carrier Program and positions the company for reconstruction work across Syria, Iraq, and the broader Levant. A new $90 million credit facility with JPMorgan Chase, plus $50 million of additional incremental capacity, gives the balance sheet room to chase projects that size once required.

The growth came at a cost. Gross margin slipped to 29.2% from 30.1% a year earlier, weighed down by higher materials and logistics expenses and $500,000 in Ohio startup costs. The bigger drag was a $3.9 million full write-off of a receivable tied to a single customer's deteriorating finances, a charge management attributed directly to that customer's financial position rather than to broader demand. Sagr also flagged that "some of the impact in our margins currently is due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East," which has pushed up shipping and commodity costs, and warned that fixed-price, short-execution contracts sometimes prevent the company from passing those costs on. The strain shows up over a longer window too.