Marka delays timeline for turning profit to 2016
The company has been boosting its revenue with new acquisitions
Dubai: Dubai’s Marka, a retail and restaurant start-up that listed on the emirate’s bourse last year, expects to turn profitable in 2016, a company official said on Tuesday, pushing back the timeline given earlier.
In January, Marka said it expected to turn profitable in the fourth quarter of 2015.
“The company has to consolidate the acquisitions,” managing director Khalid Al Mheri said, explaining why the profitability was delayed.
The company has been boosting its revenue with new acquisitions. On Tuesday, it announced the completion of its first international investment: a 65 per cent acquisition in Icons, a football memorabilia company, for Dh15.3 million ($4.2 million).
In December, Marka said it had agreed to buy sporting goods firm Retailcorp from Istithmar World, a unit of state-owned conglomerate Dubai World for Dh220 million ($60 million).
It has also bought stakes in a restaurant chain and entertainment centres in Dubai.
