Nakheel Posts 58% Nine Month Profit Hike

Dubai government-owned property developer Nakheel said on Monday that its nine-month net profit jumped 58 per cent year-on-year as the company continued to benefit from the recovery in the emirate’s property market.

The firm, which was taken over by the government as part of its $16 billion restructuring plan completed in 2011, made a net profit of Dhs1.77 billion ($481.9 million) in the nine months to September 30, versus Dhs1.12 billion in the corresponding period of 2012, a statement said.

Dubai real estate prices slumped by more than 50 per cent from their 2008 peak in the aftermath of the emirate’s property bubble bursting, but have been advancing in recent months as investor confidence in the sector returns.

The extent of the rise – more than 22 per cent in the past year, according to property consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle last week – caused the International Monetary Fund to warn in July of the potential for another damaging real estate bubble forming in the market.

Nakheel, builder of man-made islands in the shape of palms and a map of the world, said revenue of Dhs6.83 billion in the first nine months of the year was up 50 per cent on 2012, boosted by the handover of properties.

The firm said it was on course to deliver 3,000 units in 2013, having completed 2,200 handovers in the first nine months of the year, with a pipeline of almost 2,800 units – worth 8.5 billion dirhams – as at September 30.

Nakheel has repaid around Dhs12 billion to trade creditors and almost Dhs1.5 billion to creditors in the form of loan interest and sukuk profit payments since August 2011, the firm added.