Dubai Aerospace Enterprise has cancelled an order for five 747-8 freighters. Stephen Brashear / Getty Images / AFP
Dubai Aerospace Enterprise has cancelled an order for five 747-8 freighters. Stephen Brashear / Getty Images / AFP

Profits for Dubai Aerospace decline from $121m to $7m



Profits at the aviation industry support company Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) were down sharply last year.

In a statement yesterday, the company, which specialises in maintenance, repair and overhaul as well as aircraft leasing, said net profit for last year was US$7.3 million, down from $121m in 2011.

The announcement came just days after the government-controlled DAE cancelled an order for five Boeing 747 freighters.

DAE's revenue for last year increased to $1.94 billion, from $1.8bn a year earlier, while profit excluding non-recurring items was up 35 per cent, at $110m, the company said.

"DAE was successful yet again in growing its core income," said the DAE managing director, Khalifa Al Daboos. "Our business prospects are strong, and the company is poised for growth in 2013 and beyond".

Last week Boeing confirmed that DAE had cancelled its remaining order for five 747-8 freighters with a value of $1.76bn. DAE Capital, the Dubai-based firm's leasing unit, had originally ordered 10 747-8s as part of a 200 aircraft buying spree from Boeing and Airbus worth $27bn, at the Dubai air show in 2007. DAE has since cancelled all its Airbus orders, and the other five 747-8s were cancelled in December. However, the company still has an order for five twin-engined Boeing 777 freighters.

DAE, which operates in four continents and employs more than 4,000 people, currently has a fleet of 52 Airbus and Boeing jets, including 10 Boeing 777s and 16 737s, 15 Airbus A320/319s and 11 A330s, according to its website.

This latest cancellation leaves Boeing with 54 unfilled orders for the 747-8, and the US plane maker has announced it would cut its monthly production level to 1.75 planes from two starting in early 2014.

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
 
Started: 2020
 
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
 
Based: Dubai, UAE
 
Sector: Entertainment 
 
Number of staff: 210 
 
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Company%20Profile
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The%20pillars%20of%20the%20Dubai%20Metaverse%20Strategy
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UAE SQUAD

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Frankenstein in Baghdad
Ahmed Saadawi
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: ARDH Collective
Based: Dubai
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Sector: Sustainability
Total funding: Self funded
Number of employees: 4
Ronaldo's record at Man Utd

Seasons 2003/04 - 2008/09

Appearances 230

Goals 115

COMPANY PROFILE

Company: Bidzi

● Started: 2024

● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid

● Based: Dubai, UAE

● Industry: M&A

● Funding size: Bootstrapped

● No of employees: Nine

Company profile

Name: Steppi

Founders: Joe Franklin and Milos Savic

Launched: February 2020

Size: 10,000 users by the end of July and a goal of 200,000 users by the end of the year

Employees: Five

Based: Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai

Financing stage: Two seed rounds – the first sourced from angel investors and the founders' personal savings

Second round raised Dh720,000 from silent investors in June this year

APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)

Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits

Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine

Storage: 128/256/512GB

Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4

Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps

Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID

Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight

In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter

Price: From Dh2,099

The biog

Place of birth: Kalba

Family: Mother of eight children and has 10 grandchildren

Favourite traditional dish: Al Harees, a slow cooked porridge-like dish made from boiled cracked or coarsely ground wheat mixed with meat or chicken

Favourite book: My early life by Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, the Ruler of Sharjah

Favourite quote: By Sheikh Zayed, the UAE's Founding Father, “Those who have no past will have no present or future.”

The UN General Assembly President in quotes:

YEMEN: “The developments we have seen are promising. We really hope that the parties are going to respect the agreed ceasefire. I think that the sense of really having the political will to have a peace process is vital. There is a little bit of hope and the role that the UN has played is very important.”

PALESTINE: “There is no easy fix. We need to find the political will and comply with the resolutions that we have agreed upon.”

OMAN: “It is a very important country in our system. They have a very important role to play in terms of the balance and peace process of that particular part of the world, in that their position is neutral. That is why it is very important to have a dialogue with the Omani authorities.”

REFORM OF THE SECURITY COUNCIL: “This is complicated and it requires time. It is dependent on the effort that members want to put into the process. It is a process that has been going on for 25 years. That process is slow but the issue is huge. I really hope we will see some progress during my tenure.”

Why it pays to compare

A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.

Route 1: bank transfer

The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.

Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount

Total received: €4,670.30 

Route 2: online platform

The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.

Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction

Total received: €4,756

The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.