Real estate: Aldar’s Q1 net profit slumps 67.7%

Dubai: Abu Dhabi developer Aldar Properties, set to acquire smaller rival Sorouh Real Estate in a few weeks, reported a 67.7 per cent slump in first-quarter net profit on Tuesday amid continued weakness in the emirate’s real estate market.

Aldar, builder of Abu Dhabi’s Formula One race track, made a quarterly profit of Dh154.3 million ($42 million) compared to Dh478.2 million in the corresponding period of 2012, it said in a statement on the Abu Dhabi bourse.

However, it marginally exceeded estimates of analysts polled by Reuters, who had expected an average profit of Dh151.3 million.

Revenue for the quarter slumped to Dh1.6 billion compared to Dh3.6 billion in the prior-year period. The developer said the drop was a result of a large number of unit handovers recorded in 2012.

During the quarter the company delivered 410 residential units and 66,000 square metres of land plots, and made 46 new sales of unit.