The property developer Emaar has approved a special cash dividend of Dh9 billion to be distributed to its shareholders.
This takes the total value of dividends distributed this year by the company to more than Dh17 billion.
The cash dividend, approved yesterday by the Emaar Properties board of directors, follows the initial public offering of the subsidiary Emaar Malls Group, which recorded total orders of more than Dh172 billion.
The total value of the dividends is about 250 per cent of the par value of Emaar’s shares or about Dh2.50 per share.
“Emaar has set a milestone in enhancing value for our shareholders. Earlier this year, we had announced the additional cash dividend from the listing of Emaar Malls, and we are now delivering on our promise to them,” said Mohamed Alabbar, the chairman of Emaar Properties.
“We will continue to focus on creating long-term value by further strengthening our core businesses in prime real estate assets, shopping malls and retail, and hospitality.”
Emaar’s stock value has surged 62 per cent since the start of the year. The company’s market capitalisation was nearly Dh82bn. But the developer led the DFM’s sharpest fall in weeks on Thursday, with shares in Emaar Properties falling 2.1 per cent to Dh11.25 each.
In April, Emaar announced a dividend of Dh8bn including 15 per cent cash dividend, equivalent to about Dh975 million, and 10 per cent bonus shares, or 650 million shares, valued at about Dh7.12bn at Dh10.95 per share, as of April 2014.
The developer said that it had assets worth Dh64.93bn as of the end of last year. These included land holdings of 226 million square metres as well as 12 hotels and resorts, with more than 1,900 rooms.
Emaar said it would host an ordinary general meeting to seek approval from its shareholders to distribute the cash dividend.
thamid@thenational.ae
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