Abu Dhabi Developer Aldar Q4 Profit Rises 79%

Abu Dhabi’s Aldar Properties reported a 79 per cent rise in fourth-quarter net profit on Wednesday, on the back of gains from the acquisition of former rival Sorouh Real Estate and the handover of more residential units.

The builder of Abu Dhabi’s Formula One race track made a profit of Dhs427 million ($116.3 million) in the final quarter of 2013, it said in a statement. This compares to Dhs239 million in the corresponding period of 2012.

The result beat estimates by analysts at Naeem Holding who had forecast a fourth-quarter profit of Dhs354 million.

The majority state-owned developer merged with Sorouh last year, forming the emirate’s largest property firm with assets in excess of $12 billion.

Aldar said revenues in the fourth quarter were driven by the handover of key projects, including 199 units delivered at the Gate Towers in Abu Dhabi, and state projects.

Aldar’s full-year profit was Dhs2.25 billion compared to Dhs1.3 billion in 2012, largely driven by a one-off gain of Dhs2.6 billion booked in the second quarter from the acquisition of Sorouh.

The developer said that by the end of 2013, it had repaid a further Dhs2.25 billion of debt and received Dhs3.5 billion of contractual payments from the government. Aldar was bailed out by Abu Dhabi with an injection of about $10 billion in 2011.

Aldar booked impairments and fair-value losses of Dhs1.5 billion in 2013, the result of a review of its assets over the course of the year and particularly during the merger.

Abu Dhabi’s real estate market slumped by about 50 per cent from its peak in 2008 after the global financial crisis triggered a crash. But prices rebounded strongly last year, rising some 25 per cent, on the back of a series of market-boosting measures by the government including the scrapping of annual rent caps.

Aldar added that it planned new residential development launches for the first half of 2014. It did not give further details.