Emaar paints rosy outlook

Dubai: Emaar Properties PJSC will gain contributions to its revenue from the company's international operations by the second half of 2008. This takes Emaar closer to achieving its objective of becoming one of the world's most valuable companies by 2010.

Emaar detailed its growth and expansion strategies at an analysts' call yesterday, addressed by senior Emaar executives. The call was conducted as part of the company's Investor Relations and Corporate Governance programme. Several market analysts phoned in with queries about Emaar's growth plans.

India presence

The call also highlighted the growing presence of Emaar in India, where Emaar MGF Land Private Limited, the company's joint venture with MGF Developments Limited of India, has filed a Red Herring prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to go public.

Emaar also revealed that the recently-launched Armani Residences at Burj Dubai has set a new benchmark for super prime residential property rates in Dubai. The record-breaking rates place Dubai among the global Super Prime elite.

Arif Amiri, director of investor relations, corporate governance and business development, said: "Emaar's third-quarter 2007 results reflect the overwhelming response to our international sales launches in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria, Morocco, Turkey and India, which fetched over 71 per cent sell-out response. This is indicative of the direction of growth of Emaar's international operations in the coming months and our success in replicating our Dubai business model into other markets."

Emaar announced the revenue and net profits of Dh12.537 billion and Dh4.839 billion respectively for the first nine months of the year. With the launch of new projects, including the Bawadi development that enhanced the company's land bank in Dubai by 76 per cent, and other overseas ventures, the company expects gross margins to remain robust.