Dubai: Union Properties’ net profit took a dip in the third quarter (Dh127.92 million) compared with a year ago (Dh171.86 million), but income for the first nine months (Dh833.83 million) was comfortably above that from last year’s (Dh303.02 million.)
The developer, whose portfolio includes ongoing projects at Motor City, as well as the already well-established Green Community and Uptown Mirdif, saw a decline in the revenues generated by property management and sales.
For the first nine months it was Dh83.48 million against Dh1.12 billion. It reflects the mature levels that the company’s project book has reached, and which it will look to rectify with the upcoming launches of a slew of new projects. This includes the $300 million (Dh1.1 billion) Vertex Towers, a cluster of five high-rises at Motor City.
The company’s shares closed at Dh1.75, down 2 fils from the previous day. It’s 52-week high was Dh2.9.
In the latest financials, there was also a drop in the share of profits from UP’s joint ventures — from Dh62.92 million for the first nine months of last year to Dh18.96 million during the same period this year.
But the numbers were burnished by the gain on valuation of properties — a substantial Dh922.86 million for the January-September period this year as opposed to a gain in valuation of Dh56.25 million last year.
The value of long-term bank loans on its books now total Dh1.42 billion, as compared to Dh1.07 billion a year ago.
Union Properties will shortly be issuing key contracts for the Green Community extension, which was formally launched at the recent Cityscape Global, at Dubai Investments Park.
“The plan is to have an exclusive launch once construction commences in January, followed by project sales opening in February,” a spokesperson for the company said.
Dewan Architects and Engineers are the project consultants. The tender for the main construction is set for this month, and the project is expected to be completed by June 2017 across three phases.
According to market sources, projects located within easy access of Dubai World Central will be seeing a lot of investor attention in the near term.
Motor City has been among the clusters generating such interest.
