Abu Dhabi: Bloom Holding has tripled its revenue and quadrupled its property sales volume last year, chief executive officer of the company told reporters in Abu Dhabi on Monday.

“Our strategy is 10 per cent growth year on year in our sales in real estate and we are expecting to continue this growth this year too. In spite of softening in the market in the real estate, we are optimistic, we will do well in 2017 as we did in 2016,” said Sameh Muhtadi.

He said the company sold 2,700 units in the last two years including more than 2,000 units in 2016 and 500 units in 2015. It plans to sell 600 more units this year in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

The company is planning to expand its marketing and sales activity to three countries this year including India, Saudi Arabia and China.

Giving a breakdown of nationalities buying their property, he said Emiratis top the list followed by Indians, Arabs and UK nationals.

When asked whether they are planning to expand into other Gulf Cooperation Council markets, Muhtadi said they are focusing more on Dubai and Abu Dhabi as they remain among the most attractive in terms of investment returns.

“We are encouraged by the optimism that we are seeing from the various authorities and from the various major players in this arena. In Dubai alone, there are more than 70,000 units that have been launched and are in various stages of delivery and expected delivery in 2017 is 25,000 units.”

The company also plans to be ready for an IPO within two years’ time, he said.

“We are finalising our five-year strategy. We are focused on corporate governance, and focused on risk mitigation and risk management. We are recruiting and expanding our team. We are looking at growing our staff by 15 per cent in 2017,” he added.

Last year, the company delivered Phase 3 of the Bloom Gardens master development before its scheduled handover in the first quarter of 2017. The firm also launched Faya at Bloom Gardens in Abu Dhabi and Bloom Heights in Dubai’s Jumeirah Village Circle with strong interest from investors in both the projects.

Meanwhile, Bloom Education, a subsidiary of Bloom Holding will open its Mind Champs nurseries in Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the third quarter of this year, the company said. The company also announced its plans to launch new schools in Dubai in collaboration with Brighton College UK and Dwight School New York with a combined enrolment capacity of up to 4,000 pupils. The total investment in the schools is around Dh500 million.

The company is also gearing up to open The Abu Dhabi Edition hotel at Bloom marina this year, the first Edition hotel in the Middle East with 225 rooms.