Abu Dhabi’s Aldar reports 30% fall in Q3 profit

Abu Dhabi developer Aldar Properties reported a 30 per cent dip in third quarter profit on Thursday as a slump in the emirate’s real estate marked continued.

Aldar’s profit attributable to its owners stood at Dhs421m ($114.7m) in the three months ending September 30 compared to Dhs598m in the same period last year, according to Reuters.

Revenue was up 8 per cent to Dhs1.5bn ($408.3m).

“Today, more than two thirds of our gross profit comes from the stable, mature assets held in Aldar Investments delivering consistent returns throughout the cycle,” said Aldar CEO Talal Al Dhiyebi.

“This is complemented by a development business that is expected to deliver over 7,000 units from 2018 until 2021, providing a steady pipeline of contracted cash flows that will start contributing to Aldar’s 2018 dividend, in line with our stated dividend policy.”

Aldar said occupancy across its retail, residential and commercial portfolios stood at roughly 90 per cent and its hospitality portfolio 70 per cent during the quarter.

Year-to-date off-plan sales stood at Dhs1.5bn ($408.3m) linked to the Al Ghadeer, Mamsha Al Saadiyat and West Yas projects.

The company acquired the 40 per cent of property services firm Khidmah it did not already own at the end of September and earlier that month created a new subsidiary to hold Dhs20bn ($5.4bn) recurring-revenue assets.

Read: Abu Dhabi’s Aldar fully acquires property services firm Khidmah

Real estate consultancy ValuStrat said in a recent report that residential property sales prices in the UAE capital were down 8.3 per cent in the third quarter compared to the same period last year.

Read: Residential property prices in Abu Dhabi down 8.3% in Q3

Chestertons said apartment and villa sales prices were down an average of 3 per cent compared to the second quarter as redundancies and new supply hampered demand.

Read: Abu Dhabi real estate market hit by job losses, new supply in Q3, trend to continue into 2019

Looking forward, Al Dhiyebi said Aldar was encouraged by a Dhs50bn ($13.61bn) government stimulus plan and state oil firm ADNOC”s recently announced Dhs486bn ($132.3bn) capital expenditure strategy.

Read: Abu Dhabi’s ADNOC plans to increase oil production under $132bn plan

Read: Abu Dhabi crown prince outlines Dhs50bn stimulus plan