Emaar Announces 10% Dividend For 2011

Dubai’s Emaar Properties will pay a ten per cent cash dividend for 2011 and said that it would look to its overseas business for a revenue boost next year.

Shareholders also approved a new board with seven new members.

Chairman Mohammed Alabbar said Emaar had no plans to tap debt markets in 2012. The firm raised a $1 billion loan in December, backed by the mammoth Dubai Mall.

When asked whether Emaar would raise any debt in 2012, he said: “No, I don’t think so.”
“I don’t think we need it but if there’s a project then we’ll look at it,” he said, referring to sukuk, or Islamic bonds.

Asked how the developer would raise money for future projects, he said: “We have to manage our balance sheet and our cash flow.”

“We have no intention,” Alabbar said about any plans for a merger.

Alabbar said Emaar, which is about 30-per cent owned by Dubai’s sovereign investment vehicle, would focus on boosting revenues from its global operations next year and enhancing profit from recurring revenues.

The developer has been gradually shifting its focus away from Dubai realty, hard-hit in the emirate’s 2008 property collapse, in favor of its retail, hospitality and leisure business.

It owns the Dubai Mall, billed as the world’s largest, and operates the Armani-branded hotels.

Emaar is expected to report its first-quarter earnings this week.

Four analysts polled by Reuters have estimated, on average, a first quarter profit of Dhs496.8 million ($135.3 million), up 18.1 per cent from a year earlier.

The UAE’s biggest developer by market value had net a profit of Dhs1.8 billion in 2011, down 27 per cent from the previous year. Revenues fell 33 per cent to Dhs8.1 billion in 2011.

Retail and hospitality together accounted for 41 per cent of 2011 revenues. Sales from international operations also boosted income, contributing 22 per cent of total company revenues.