Dubai’s Emaar Properties, builder of the world’s tallest tower, reported a 7% increase in first-quarter net profit yesterday, extending a run of profits as it sold $672mn in property in its home market and mall revenue rose.
The developer, in which Dubai’s government owns a minority stake, made a net profit of 1.03bn dirhams ($280.4mn) in the three months to March 31, Emaar said in a statement.
A year earlier, its profit was 957mn dirhams. Emaar has now reported rising profits in eight successive quarters.
The result exceeded a forecast by Sico Bahrain for first-quarter profit of 856.8mn dirhams.
“The sustained growth in net profit and revenue is supported by the increase in recurring revenues from the group’s shopping malls, retail and hospitality businesses,” Emaar said.
Its quarterly revenue rose to 3.01bn dirhams from 2.39bn a year earlier.
The company sold 2.45bn dirhams worth of property in Dubai in the quarter, and its property division’s quarterly revenue was 1.49bn. It did not provide comparative figures for the year-ago quarter.
Emaar’s hospitality and leisure business generated 495mn dirhams in revenue in the first quarter, which it described as similar to a year ago.
Emaar Malls, in which Emaar floated a 15.4% stake in September, reported a 32% rise in first-quarter profit last week, with revenue up 21%.
Emaar’s international operations provided 11%, or 346mn dirhams, of the group’s quarterly revenue.

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank
Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank yesterday posted a 10.1% rise in first-quarter net profit, helped by higher revenues. ADIB made a net profit of 450.8mn dirhams ($122.8mn) in the quarter to March 31 compared to 409.5mn dirhams in the same period a year ago.
Two analysts had forecast a net profit of 440mn and 477mn dirhams.
ADIB’s group revenues in the first quarter touched 1.22bn dirhams, up 14.1%.
The results came against a broadly positive earnings season for banks in the United Arab Emirates, despite concern over the potential impact of lower oil prices on the economy.
ADIB booked bad loan provisions totalling 202.6mn dirhams in the first quarter, down 6.4% from a year earlier.
Loans decreased 0.9% from the end of December to 72.3bn dirhams on March 31, while deposits rose 3.3% to 87.6bn dirhams.