M&S Dubai Mall
Despite the intensity of the pandemic on the retail sector, The Dubai Mall had an opening date for Marks & Spencer's flagship store. Image Credit: Gulf News Archive

Dubai: Emaar Malls recorded first-half 2020 net profits of Dh345 million on revenues of Dh1.65 billion – a period during which it had cut down activities at its malls for weeks and offered relief measures for its tenants.

The latest numbers represent quite a comedown from same-time 2019 levels, but still show a fair degree of resilience. Revenues in the first six months of 2019 were at Dh2.22 billion, while profit came toDh1.13 billion.

It was also the time when the mall owner pushed quite a bit of its mall activities onto digital channels. “By driving The Dubai Mall into new channels at speed to serve our customers rapidly changing needs, and using digital immersive experiences to engage the customer, we can look ahead to the future with even more confidence,” said Mohammed Alabbar, Chairman.

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Occupancy levels across its malls were at the 92 per cent mark.

In keeping with the times, the Namshi fashion and accessories portal that Emaar Malls now owns in full recorded half-year revenues of Dh664 million, a 57 per cent gain from a year ago.

Partial relief

For the lockdown period, from March 25 to April 27, Emaar Malls brought out a flexible rent relief policy, as well as for the April 28 to August 31 period. The policy included a tiered base rent waiver for tenants.