Dubai: Dubai Financial Market’s (DFM) net profit skyrocketed 708.52 per cent to Dh284.6 million in 2013 from Dh35.2 million in 2012 due to the strong return of local and foreign investors.
Total revenues reached Dh453.1 million at the end of 2013, compared to Dh191 million in 2012. The total revenue comprised Dh400 million of operational revenues and Dh53.1 million of investment revenues and others.
“The year 2013 was packed with enormous achievements and positive developments, as DFM started to reap the fruit of many years of hard work and efforts to develop its infrastructure in accordance with international best practices and reflect the sound fundamentals of the national economy which placed DFM as the second best-performing exchange globally in 2013,” Eisa Abdul Fattah Kazim, Chairman of Dubai Financial Market, said in an emailed statement.
The DFM General Index, the second best performing index in 2013 after Venezuela’s Caracas Stock Exchange, recorded a strong growth rate of 107.7 per cent and the daily average of trading value significantly increased by 231.8 per cent to Dh642.1 million compared to Dh193.5 million in 2012.
Venezuela’s benchmark IBC Index appreciated a whopping 480 per cent last year.
The total traded value on DFM also increased in 2013 by 227.8 per cent to Dh159.8 billion, in comparison to Dh48.7 billion during 2012.
Impressive performance
During its meeting on Thursday, the Board of Directors reviewed and approved the annual results, which will be presented for ratification at the annual general meeting of the company due to be held on March 3 in co-ordination with the UAE Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA).
The board also proposed a cash dividend of five per cent of the capital equivalent to Dh400 million.
“The impressive performance stems from the growing awareness amongst various investors of the underlying values and attractive investment opportunities offered by the DFM. These factors have played a pivotal role in the MSCI Inc and S&P Dow Jones decision to upgrade the UAE market to ‘Emerging Market’ status. We believe that the boom in 2013 represents a new starting point for DFM,” Kazim said.
The UAE and Qatar stock exchanges are the first to be upgraded to emerging status and is set to become operational in May.
The total value of listed Sukuk on the emirate’s markets rose by 44.5 per cent to Dh48.8 billion by the end of 2013 in comparison to Dh33.8 billion at the outset of the same year.
“We have developed an advanced infrastructure to support mobile trading and launched the DFM smart phone application which places our services in the palm of the hands of our market participants with all the latest updates, share prices, market news and company disclosures,” Kazim added.
