Emaar Malls, the retail business 85 per cent owned by Emaar Properties, posted a 27 per cent increase in fourth quarter net profit, beating analyst’s expectations, as it welcomed more visitors to its malls.
Net profit in the three months ending December jumped to Dh574 million from Dh452m in the year-earlier period, the company said in a statement on Monday. Revenue rose 35 per cent to Dh1.12bn from a year earlier. The results were higher than the mean forecast of Dh490m, according to a Bloomberg poll of two analysts.
“The sustained growth of Emaar Malls highlights the robust performance of our nation’s retail sector, a key contributor to the gross domestic product,” said Mohamed Alabbar, Emaar Malls board member and chairman of Emaar Properties. “Through our focus on digital innovation and malls expansion, our assets will continue to catalyse the economy.”
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Emaar Malls is expanding physically and digitally in order to get more customers into its malls and online offerings. Last year it bought a 51 per cent stake in online fashion retailer Namshi for $151m, wrapping up its hunt to land a significant e-commerce asset after it tried to buy Souq.com last year, which was acquired by e-commerce behemoth Amazon.
The company's full year net profit rose 11 per cent to Dh2.08bn from 2016, while revenue increased 12 per cent to Dh3.62bn in the period. Dubai Mall, Emaar Malls flagship property, welcomed 80 million visitors for the fourth year in a row in 2017. Overall, visitors to Emaar Malls outlets rose 4 per cent last year to 130 million from 2016.
Gross leasable area occupancy reached 94 per cent across Emaar Malls’ assets in 2017.
On Sunday, Emaar Properties, the biggest publicly traded real estate company in the UAE, said its net profit for 2017 was $1.55 billion, without providing further details.
Emaar Malls also owns and manages Souk Al Bahar, Dubai Marina Mall and Gold & Diamond Park.
