Dubai Investments Posts Q1 Profit Hike

Dubai Investments announced that its first quarter net profit reached Dhs107 million, a 5.9 per cent rise over Dhs101 million reported during the same period last year.

Total income for the period fell 3.1 per cent to Dhs623 million from Dhs643 million a year earlier, the company said in a statement.

Total assets stood at Dhs13.5 billion as at 31st March 2012, while net worth increased to Dhs8.5 billion. The annualised return on share capital for the period hit 12 per cent, the company said.

“The beginning of 2012 showed various positive developments in the form of settlement of the Eurozone debt crisis, increase in the UAE tourism and hospitality sector and relative improvement in the regional political conditions,” Khalid Kalban, managing director and CEO of Dubai Investments said in the statement.

“These multiple factors contributed to the group’s increased profitability,” he said.

“The outlook for the remainder of the year appears promising. The management is closely monitoring economic developments and reviewing opportunities for divestment. These divestments are expected to provide significant returns in the near future,” he added.

Earlier this year, the investment conglomerate posted a 75 per cent year-on-year drop in its net profit for 2011 as some of its assets lost value.

“The profit for the year 2011 is lower mainly due to lesser fair valuation gain on investment properties and loss on fair valuation of investments,” the company said.

Dubai Investments’ revenue for the year dropped to Dhs2.48 billion from Dhs3.45 billion in 2010, while total assets reached Dhs13.8 billion in 2011, down from Dhs14.1 billion in the previous year.