Business | Markets
Emaar proposes 20% cash dividend from 2007 profit
Dubai-based Emaar Properties on Tuesday proposed a dividend of Dh0.20 ($0.054) per share from its 2007 profit, unchanged compared with the year before when the payout disappointed investors.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:20 February 13, 2008
Dubai: Dubai-based Emaar Properties on Tuesday proposed a dividend of Dh0.20 ($0.054) per share from its 2007 profit, unchanged compared with the year before when the payout disappointed investors.
The remaining profit will be allocated to reserves, the largest Arab real estate developer by market value said on the Dubai bourse website.
Earnings per share for the year rose to Dh1.08 per share, compared with Dh1.05 the year before.
"Local retail investors would not take it positively because the stock is perceived as a proxy for the whole market and these investors are yield-driven," said Mohammad Kamal, real estate analyst at Deutsche Bank in Dubai.
Last year, a similar 20 per cent cash dividend disappointed investors, sending Emaar shares plunging more than five per cent the next day.
The stock is down about 24 per cent this year, the worst performance in the Dubai index.
Emaar beat most analysts' forecasts last month with a record fourth-quarter profit of Dh1.74 billion ($473.9 million).
Investment bank EFG-Hermes in January cut its fair value target for Emaar after the developer said profit growth this year would stagnate on higher construction costs for its malls and hotels.
The Egyptian bank lowered its long-term target for Emaar shares to Dh18.50 each from Dh20.04, and its earnings-per-share outlook to Dh1.23 from Dh1.63 following a conference call with Emaar officials.
The stock last traded at Dh11.30.
Algeria: Firm likely to invest $30b
Emaar Properties has offered to increase its investments in Algeria to $30 billion, Al Bayan reported on Tuesday, citing the minister of industry and investment promotion.
Emaar's first project, worth $5.5 billion, will start in the next few weeks, Abdul hamid Temmar said, according to paper. The newspaper did not give more details.
Emaar, the largest Arab real-estate developer by market value, said in October it had agreed to develop four residential and leisure projects around the Algerian capital, Algiers, at a cost of $20 billion.
- Reuters
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