Business & Money | Monday 15 May, 2017 6:42 pm |

DAMAC Properties Dubai Co. PJSC (DFM: DAMAC) (“DAMAC” or the "Company"), a leading property developer in the Middle East, today announced the financial results for the first three months ending 31st March 2017.    

During the first three months of 2017, DAMAC recorded revenues of AED 1.95 billion, with gross profit margins at 54%. Net profit for the reporting period stood at AED 880 million, achieving net margins of 45%. Total assets increased by 6.3% to AED 26.17 billion compared to AED 24.63 billion at year-end 2016.  As of 31 March 2017, cash and bank balances stood at AED 9.11 billion; development properties stood at AED 10.22 billion largely unchanged versus December 2016. Total equity stood at AED 13.5 billion which is an increase of 7% from year-end 2016.  Earnings Per Share (EPS) for the quarter amounted to AED 0.15 per share.        

DAMAC completed a further 550 units in our DAMAC Hills (previously AKOYA) master development which represent around 20% of our full year 2017 guidance of 2,800 units.    During the quarter, booked sales reached AED 2.2 billion, compared to AED 1.71 billion in 4Q 2016 and AED 2 billion in the same period last year, demonstrating a sequential increase and a stable market in general and is consistent with earlier guidance of AED 7 billion for the year 2017.    

Hussain Sajwani, Chairman of DAMAC, commented:    “As we highlighted in our FY 2016 results, the Dubai real estate market has stabilised; this was especially visible in the last few months of 2016. With no major fluctuations in prices but with an increase in volumes and transactions in the market in general, we can say Q1 2017 has been strong, with booked sales of AED 2.2 billion. There is continued demand for quality real estate that presents better value. Despite the challenging market conditions, our medium to long term outlook remains positive, as we remain dynamic and continue providing the right products that suit the changing market needs.    

During the quarter, we continued to launch a series of innovative products in our golf community AKOYA Oxygen that were priced to attract both investors and end-users. Customers are seeking properties in premium locations and at an attractive price point, which provides better value in both the case of seeking higher returns on investment or living in a home that is part of a comprehensive lifestyle community.  Due to the efforts of our visionary leadership in Dubai, the Emirate is consistently outperforming other regional as well as international markets. The emphasis on and pace at which world-class infrastructure is being built to serve the anticipated needs of the city for now and beyond is providing confidence to investors and businesses, attracting them to live and work in Dubai.’’      

Further expansion of product range and opening of the golf course at DAMAC Hills  The Trump International Golf Club Dubai at DAMAC Hills inaugurated in February 2017. A positive response was received from customers, stakeholders and the market in general and we are extremely proud of this success. We would like to thank everyone who has made this possible, including government bodies whose continuous support was instrumental in driving this project to completion, and of course our staff and customers for their patronage and loyalty.     Sajwani concluded: “2016 was a year of market stabilisation and the start of 2017 has been promising and we will continue to innovate on our products to meet the demands of a wider audience of customers; we will also continue to execute and deliver on existing projects, with a big focus on shareholder returns as well as customer satisfaction.”