Dubai Investments posted a 5.4 per cent increase in first-quarter net profit thanks to increase in rental income and gains from divestments.
Net profit attributable to equity holders reached Dh297.5 million in the three months ending March 31, up from Dh282m in the year-earlier period, the company said in a statement to the Dubai Financial Market. Total income rose by 31.6 per cent to Dh714.6m from Dh543m a year earlier.
The Dubai-based company gained Dh186.6m from the sale of subsidiaries and its rental income rose by 25.3 per cent to Dh207m in the first quarter compared with the year-earlier period.
The sovereign wealth fund Investment Corporation of Dubai is the largest shareholder in DI, with an 11.5 per cent stake.
“While the real estate and investment sectors remain our core focus, we are also diversifying into new sectors and geographies which would yield us benefits in the coming years,” said Khalid bin Kalban, the chief executive. “The outlook for the rest of 2016 and beyond is positive with various developments in the pipeline.”
The company plans to boost its holding in property investments to 70 per cent from 50 per cent. It is also setting up Emiroll, an aluminium rolling plant in Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi, where it will have a 30 per cent stake and its partners Dubal and Mars, a Singapore-based industrial group, will hold the remaining stakes.
DI’s 37 businesses range from manufacturing to real estate. Its flagship property is the Dubai In vestments Park mixed-use project.
DI is planning a Dh2.5 billion mixed-used Mirdif Hills project, for which it plans to borrow about Dh1.2bn from local and regional banks, Mr Kalban told The National this month. The loan for the mixed-use project will most probably be secured before June.
The project includes residential units, a hospital, a hotel and retail outlets.
The company is also expanding outside the UAE for the first time with a project in Saudi Arabia. Riyadh Investment Park, a 2bn Saudi riyals (Dh1.96bn) mixed-use project in the Saudi capital is scheduled to be completed in three to five years.
DI is also looking to launch similar projects in Morocco and Angola but is waiting for government approval on these projects. The group is seeking to expand its portfolio with acquisitions in health care and education.
The company is targeting assets of Dh20bn by 2020, compared with Dh15.5bn at the end of last year.
dalsaadi@thenational.ae
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