Damac Properties' losses widen to Dh387m in first-half 2020
Dubai developers have struggled through the pandemic-hit period
Dubai: Damac Properties reported net loss of Dh387 million for the first-half of 2020 as the market downturn and COVID-19 conspired to pull down numbers.
Through the six months, the developer booked sales of Dh1.05 billion, while overall revenues were at Dh2.4 billion. The company had half-year profits of Dh82 million in 2019.
For this year, “Profit was adversely impacted due to prevalent market conditions and resultant provisions,” it said in a statement.
On the debt side, Damac’s exposure is at a manageable Dh3.5 billion, while cash and bank balances were at Dh4.4 billion. Its development portfolio is at Dh9 billion.
“The company saw gross debt reduction by Dh377 million” between January to end June. Cutting down its loan exposures has been one of the high priority tasks for the developer in the last two years.
Hussain Sajwani, Chairman, said: "2020 saw a relatively good start to operations - however in March we witnessed the global pandemic. This has - and continues to - clearly impact all companies globally."
Lockdowns and social distancing measures introduced had a negative impact on sales and business activity. We will see a difficult market for the coming 18 to 24 months