Emaar Malls, operator of The Dubai Mall, posted a 43 per cent surge in second-quarter net profit, thanks to an increase in visitor numbers to its shopping centres.
Net earnings rose to Dh412 million from Dh288m in the same period last year, while revenue increased 11 per cent to Dh727m from Dh653m a year earlier.
Mohamed Alabbar, the chairman of Emaar Malls, attributed that to the “robust footfall and tenant sales at The Dubai Mall, our flagship asset”.
The malls operator said visitor numbers in the first half of the year rose 11 per cent to 62 million from the year-earlier period.
The combined sales of its tenants stood at Dh9.6 billion, similar to the same period last year.
Emaar Malls’ base rent renewal rates in the first half rose 30 per cent, while overall gross leasable area (GLA) occupancy increased to 96 per cent.
Emaar Malls, which has a total GLA of 6 million square feet, plans to complete its expansion of The Dubai Mall next year with the addition of 1 million sq ft of space.
The new leasable areas will make up about 15 per cent of the mall.
In the first half, Emaar Malls began opening its new brand of community malls called The Souk at Arabian Ranches II. It plans to open new malls in areas of Dubai including The Meadows and The Springs.
The emirate’s retail market is expected to stabilise this year as the number of Russian visitors falls because of Russia’s economic woes and the rouble’s decline.
In addition, European tourists may stay away from Dubai’s malls because of the euro’s weakness, according to the property broker JLL. The realtor expects small and mid-sized tenants to struggle to meet their financial targets amid high rents this year.
Emaar Malls shares rose 0.3 per cent to Dh3.32 in Dubai.
dalsaadi@thenational.ae
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