Amlak Finance said its net profit for the nine months ending September 2008, jumped 157 per cent to Dh444 million ($121 million) when compared to Dh173 million ($47 million) for the same period last year.
Amlak Finance is the largest real estate financier in the Middle East by market value and total assets.
Announcing the results, Nasser Bin Hassan Al-Shaikh, director-general of Dubai Department of Finance and chairman of Amlak Finance, said its revenue for the nine months that ended in September 2008 touched Dh963 million, up 112 per cent against the same period of 2007.
The company’s property financing activities contributed 71 per cent of the total revenue, he noted.
Total assets at the end of September 2008 stood at Dh15.8 billion, a growth of 123 per cent compared to Dh7.1 billion as at September last year.
Total volume of business reached Dh18.5 billion as at the end of September 2008 consisting of Dh9.9 billion of financing and investing assets.
It also included Dh2.9 billion of financing commitments extended to customers, marking an increase of 151 per cent compared to the same period of 2007, and a portfolio of Dh5.6 billion of real estate investments.
“The real estate market in the UAE continues to witness tremendous growth and we at Amlak have complimented this development with leading edge financing services and products,” said Al Sheikh.
“The financial results to date are by far the best performance in Amlak’s eight years history, which can be rightfully attributed to the strong foundation the UAE real estate development sector is built on,” he explained.
“Based on Amlak’s stellar performance in the first nine months of 2008, we anticipate stronger results for the last quarter of the year, which means that the forecast for our profit growth in 2008 is now set to a minimum of 100 per cent,” he added.
In the third quarter of 2008 Amlak received approval from Jordan’s Securities Commission to increase the paid-up capital of the soon to be launched Amlak Finance (Jordan) from JD55 million to JD63 million.
Similarly, Amlak Finance (Qatar), a joint venture between Amlak Finance and Barwa Real Estate Company, received the license from Qatar Central Bank to commence operations.
“This quarter witnessed milestones in terms of the progress made in the expansion of our regional network,” noted Al-Shaikh.
“Our Egypt operations grew the home finance portfolio to EGP315 million since officially commencing operations in October of 2007 and is moving forward with plans to further strengthen its positioning in the Egyptian market, especially with the recent launch of the Aurora-Ein Sokhna resort on the Red Sea.”
According to Al-Shaikh, the Jordan and Qatar operations are scheduled to be officially launched in the second half of this year.
Arif Alharmi, chief executive officer, Amlak Finance, said this had been a very successful quarter for the company, demonstrated by the continued quarterly growth in profits.
'We have offered a wide array of innovative products and services such as the recently launched Amlak Plus, which is designed to tap into a new segment of customers by offering improved benefits as compared to other home finance products.'
“In our constant endeavor to support the development and increase investor confidence in Dubai’s real estate sector, we have tied up with the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) to support their Escrow awareness campaign, aimed at potential home owners and investors in Dubai requiring additional information on the benefits of Escrow accounts,” he added.-TradeArabia News Service