Dubai: The Dubai developer Deyaar confirmed net profits of Dh55.2 million in the first quarter — an improvement on the Dh52.1 million from last year — in a statement issued Tuesday post trading hours on Dubai Financial Market. The scrip, nevertheless, was the second best gainer on DFM on Tuesday, up 3.88 per cent to Dh0.749.
“The company’s strong first quarter performance affirms that our corporate strategy remains sound,” said Abdullah Al Hamli, Chairman.
Deyaar’s statement did not list the revenues recorded in the first quarter. In 2014, the developer had revenues of Dh1.1 billion on which it pulled out a net of Dh281.9 million. It was also last year that the company confirmed plans to add a hospitality component to its portfolio, hitherto comprising only residential and office buildings.
The statement, however, confirmed that it is working towards ‘acquiring the necessary approvals for the soon-to-be-launched Dh3.5 billion upscale development ‘Midtown’’, which it had announced during Cityscape Global in September last. Set on a 5.5 million square feet expanse adjacent to Jumeirah Golf Estates, it will feature 27 mid-rise buildings, including two for hotels. Midtown also marks a departure of sorts for the developer in that the emphasis until now had been on high-rise projects in key locations within Business Bay, including the Atria launched early 2014. “Investors have always had a favourable response to Deyaar’s launches, more so because the developer has been relatively quiet in terms of new launches since the Atria,” said Niraj Masand, Partner at Banke M. E.
Developers are starting to pay particular attention to tap the emerging locations in Dubai such as Al Barsha South, areas off-Umm Suqeim and Al Qudra. The expectation is that such locations would also offer them greater flexibility in terms of setting new price bands and more in sync with the current dynamics of the property market.
