DUBAI: Dubai’s Emaar Properties reported a 55 percent rise in first-quarter net profit, as the region’s economic recovery brought consumers back to its malls and shopping units, and house buyers returned to the market.
The builder of the world’s tallest tower, the Burj Khalifa, reported a profit of Dh863m ($234.96m) in the three months to March 31, compared to Dh556m in the prior-year period. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast profit of Dh873m.
Revenue was Dh2.26bn, up from Dh2.11bn a year earlier, of which 38 percent, or Dh863m, came from Emaar’s malls and shopping unit and 16 percent, or Dh483m, from its hospitality and leisure unit. Emaar diversified out of property when Dubai’s housing market prices slumped by more than half from a 2008 peak when the emirate’s building boom turned bust.
Over the last 18 months, Emaar has led a sector recovery, largely owing to speculative buyers returning to the home sales market. Reuters
