ABU DHABI: Aldar Properties, Abu Dhabi’s largest real estate developer, reported a jump in its second-quarter net profit yesterday, after excluding one-time merger gains in the corresponding period last year.
The builder of Abu Dhabi’s Formula One race circuit made a quarterly profit of Dh506m ($138m), up 168 percent from Dh189m a year earlier, it said.
The year-earlier figure excluded Dh1.06bn gained from Aldar’s state-backed merger with rival Sorouh Real Estate last year.
The results were roughly in line with the forecasts of analysts surveyed, who had on average predicted a profit of Dh511m for the period.
Revenue for the second quarter was Dh2.19bn, up 74 percent year-on-year, the company said.
Aldar, which is majority-owned by the Abu Dhabi government, was one of the biggest casualties of a crash in the emirate’s real estate market and was rescued by a $10bn state bailout in 2010.
The developer’s gross debt has since been reduced to Dh10bn from Dh14.2bn, Aldar’s chief financial officer Greg Fewer said in a conference call after the results announcement.
“At this point our business is fully funded but we are constantly monitoring the market to optimise financing,” he said when asked if there were any plans to raise new financing.
Earlier this year the company replaced Dh1.6bn of existing bank loans with new loans at lower costs. Aldar also repaid a $1.25bn bond due in May 2014 using internally generated cash, the statement said.
Aldar, which appointed a new chief executive in July, announced three new projects in Abu Dhabi in April worth about Dh5bn.
Shares of Aldar were down 3.2 percent in early trade yesterday, as the Abu Dhabi bourse slipped 0.3 percent. The stock is up 36.6 percent this year.
Reuters
