Dubai: Emirates REIT has reported a net profit, including valuation gains, of $14.3 million (Dh52.52 million) in the first quarter of 2016.
The figure marks a rise of 57.8 per cent compared to $9.1 million in the first quarter last year.
The investment company continued to increase its property income in the first quarter of 2016, which rose 24.3 per cent to $11.7 million compared to $9.4 million in the same quarter of 2015.
Additional rental income from Index Tower and Jebel Ali School as well as an overall year-on-year rental growth of 5 per cent across all other assets helped to boost the property income in the last quarter.
Total occupancy rate of REIT’s property portfolio at the end of the first quarter 2016 was 77.4 per cent, up from 66 per cent in Q1 2015.
“Emirates REIT witnessed strong growth in rental income and net profit. During the first quarter 2016 we have generated a solid pipeline of tenants and closed new broker agreements to accelerate the rental process going forward. We continue to monitor the market for acquisitions in line with our overall strategy,” said Sylvain Vieujot, CEO of Emirates REIT.
The total value of the property portfolio increased over the quarter by 2.8 per cent to $692.2 million. This increase was driven by the progress made on the Jebel Ali School development and the continued fit-out works at Index Tower.
As a result, revaluation gains for the quarter amounted to $12.1 million. The outstanding debt at the end of the first quarter 2016 was $251.5 million, representing a debt to equity ratio of 34.1 per cent which is 0.6 percentage points lower than at the end of 2015 following principal repayments of $5.9 million during the quarter, the company said in a statement.
