By: Mahmoud Gamal
Dubai – Mubasher: The UAE-listed real estate companies saw 3.37% increase in profits by the end of 2016, back by the strong results of Aldar Properties and Emaar, analysts said.
According to statistics by Mubasher, 12 real estate firms achieved AED 14.43 billion ($3.93 billion) in 2016 compared to AED 13.96 billion ($3.8 billion) in 2015.
The growth in the real estate firms is attributable to the accruable project delivery time which indicates a partial enhancement in the economic circumstances of the country, analysts added.
In the Abu Dhabi Exchange (ADX), four real estate companies posted AED 3.2 billion profits in 2016 from AED 2.97 billion in the year preceding, with a rise of 7.7%.
Aldar Properties acquired the biggest share after achieving annual profits of AED 2.8 billion, with an 8% growth.
In Dubai Financial Market (DFM), five listed firms posted AED 11.23 billion profits in 2016, 2.27% higher than the AED 10.98 billion achieved in 2015.
Emaar acquired the biggest share after achieving annual profits of AED 5.23 billion, with a 28% growth.
The positive results of the companies came due to the diversity of the projects adopted by both of them which comforted traders amid fluctuation seen in the real estate sector, technical analyst, Waleed Hamad, told Mubasher.
Manazel Real Estate posted a 5.6% rise year-on-year to AED 206.516 million by the end of the year, while RAK Properties generated profits of AED 174.81 million in 2016, up 9.2%.
Net profit of Emaar Malls for the fiscal year 2016 increased 13% to AED 1.874 billion from AED 1.656 billion for fiscal 2015.
In 2016, Arabtec Holding's net losses increased 26.4% to AED 3.512 billion from AED 2.778 billion in 2015.
Fadi El Ghattis, CEO of Think Financial Studies, said that Arabtec's problem is represented in not achieving operating profits till now, which is a problem for any real estate company.
Drake and Scull International (DSI) incurred losses of AED 786.86 million in 2016, a decline of 16.2% from AED 938.82 million in 2015.
Eshraq suffered losses of AED 575 million in 2016, against profits of AED 1.61 million in 2015.
Technical analyst, Tareq Al Ghanem, expected that the real estate firms will keep their profits in 2017, coinciding the slight rise seen with the beginning of implementation of Expo 2020 projects.
Translated by: Sara Ghali
