UAE's Lulu Retail share looks for rise after dividend - Tabreed already got one

Dubai: Investors in Lulu Retail are looking for a significant share price boost after the Abu Dhabi based hypermarket operator confirmed a first-half dividend of Dh361.1 million.

The dividend works out to 3.5 fils a share and higher than what Lulu paid for H2-2024, at 3 fils a share.

The share price of the company – which confirmed H1-2025 net profits of Dh466 million – looked on course for a solid 2% increase on Wednesday (August 13) before closing unchanged at Dh1.21. Even then, the share was among the most actively traded on ADX on Wednesday.

The coming days will be crucial for the Lulu share, say analysts, if it has to close the current price and the IPO listing one of Dh2.04.

“The H1-25 results are solid and Lulu is getting better results from online sales and its private label business,” said an analyst. “Investors, especially foreign funds, will be looking to how well Lulu can grow its non-UAE operations further. This will be key in getting the share price closer to the IPO.”

Currently, foreign investors make up 76% of Lulu’s shareholders, with GCC nationals contributing another 10.2%. UAE national represent 13.07% as of now.  

While Lulu Retail put in steady revenue and profit growth in the latest financials, it also managed to reduce bank debt and tapped into its own funds for working capital needs. (However, leasing costs increased as more new stores were opened, many being outside of the UAE.)

Meanwhile, Dubai's upmarket grocer Spinneys' share price continues to be above its IPO rate of Dh1.53. The company, which continues to add to its UAE and Saudi network and also into higher margin operations, is at Dh1.59, gaining more than 5% in the last month.

Meanwhile, shareholders in Tabreed, the district cooling company, are seeing a lot happening that’s to their liking. On DFM, the stock is up 2.06% in the last month – and in the last 5 days, Tabreed’s gained 1.71% to Dh2.97.

Last week, Tabreed confirmed it will pay 6.5 fils a share (a 67% payout based on H1-25 profit of Dh276 million) as its first interim dividend ever.  (The company will call a shareholders meeting in September to get their approval.)

This will further raise the Tabreed share profile. In fact, “Tabreed’s stock has surged 15% from its low point on June 28,” said Sameer Lakhani, Managing Director at Global Capital Partners. “This was around the time that IHC-backed Multiply Group announced its sale of PAL Cooling to Tabreed and CVC.

“This gave the signal that Tabreed is in an aggressive mode of market share acquisition, improving its earnings profile.”