Emaar Properties Quarterly Profit Rises as Dubai Property Sales Soar 70%

Emaar Properties PJSC, the builder of the world’s tallest tower in Dubai, reported a jump in first-quarter profit after collecting payments from pre-sold projects and boosting sales in the emirate.

Net income rose to 1.21 billion dirhams ($329 million), or 17 fils a share, from 1.03 billion dirhams, or 14 fils, a year earlier, the Dubai-based company said Sunday. That met the 1.2 billion-dirham average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

The results were buoyed by construction progress on projects that were already sold, which allowed Emaar to collect payments. The company, Dubai’s biggest developer by market value and the builder of the Burj Khalifa tower, also benefited from “severe” cost cuts after the property market started to weaken at the end of 2015, Chairman Mohammed Alabbar said last month.

“The first-quarter results are a clear indicator of the growth we have achieved,” Alabbar said Sunday in a statement. “Property sales in Dubai and other key international markets have gained momentum.”

Emaar’s property sales totaled 5.15 billion dirhams in the period, up 41 percent from a year earlier, as sales in Dubai surged 70 percent to 4.19 billion dirhams. Quarterly revenue rose to 3.5 billion dirhams from 3 billion dirhams.

Dubai home prices declined by about 15 percent in 2015 as lower oil prices, a strong dollar-pegged local currency and a slowing job market hurt demand. Prices may fall 10 percent this year, according to S&P Global Ratings.

Source – Bloomberg