Positive results for Emirates Reit on Dubai property gains

26 April 2016

Property income increased by 24.3 per cent during first quarter of 2016

Emirates Reit’s property income rose to $11.7m during in the first quarter of 2016, up 24.3 per cent from the $9.4m made in the same quarter of 2015.

The company says the increase mainly comes from additional rental income from Index Tower and Jebel Ali School as well as an overall year-on-year rental growth of 5 per cent across all other assets.

Net profit during the first quarter of 2016 was $14.3m, up 57.8 per cent from $9.1m in the first quarter of 2015. The total occupancy rate of the REIT’s property portfolio at the end of ?the first quarter of 2016 was 77.4 per cent up from 66 per cent in the first quarter of 2015.

The total value of Emirate Reit’s property portfolio increased during the first quarter of 2016 by 2.8 per cent to USD 692.2 million. The increase was attributed to progress made on the Jebel Ali School development and the continued fit-out works at Index Tower. The revaluation gains for the quarter amounted to USD 12.1 million.

The outstanding debt at the end of the first quarter 2016 was $251.5m, representing a debt to equity ratio of 34.1 per cent, which is 0.6 percentage points lower than at the end of 2015 following principal repayments of $5.9m during the first quarter of 2016.

In August 2015, Emirates Reit awarded the local Alec the contract to build the New Jebel Ali School in the Akoya development in Dubai.

The estimated AED109.8m ($29.8m) contract involves building a school with a built-up area of about 20,800-square-metres. Emirates Reit acquired the freehold plot from the local Damac Crescent Properties, worth AED98.5m ($26.8m). The trust will fund the development of the new school and has entered into a 26-year lease with Jebel Ali School for their new facility.

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