DFM posts Dhs95.5m profit in first nine months

Business Bureau, Gulf Today

Dubai Financial Market Company on Wednesday announced its financial results for the first nine months of the year ending 30 September 2019, registering a net profit of Dhs95.5 million, a 8% decrease from Dhs103.7 million in the same period of 2018.

Net profit of the third quarter of the year 2019 increased 45% to Dhs30.4 million, compared to Dhs20.9 million in the corresponding period of 2018.

Total revenue reached to Dhs241.6 million during the nine months compared to Dhs251.9 million during the corresponding period of 2018. The revenue is comprised of Dhs133.9 million of operating income and Dhs107.7 million of investment returns. Company expenses reached Dhs146.1 million by the end of September 2019 compared to Dhs148.2 million in the same period of 2018. During the third quarter, Company’s revenue reached Dhs78.1 million compared to Dhs69.5 million in the third quarter of 2018, while expenses amounted to Dhs47.7 million in the same period compared to Dhs48.6 million.

It is noteworthy that the total value of trading has decreased 17% to Dhs39.5 billion during the first nine months of this year, while it has increased 29.5% in the third quarter to 14.5 billion.

Essa Kazim, Chairman of the Dubai Financial Market Company said: “The DFM’s performance has considerably improved during the third quarter of 2019 with a 29.5% jump in trading value, which helped to a large extent to contain the slow start of the first half. The DFM General Index up 10% by the end of September while the Market Capitalization advanced 6.5% to Dhs367 billion. Consequently, we are looking forward to see further momentum considering DFM’s world-class infrastructure and lucrative opportunities supported by the national economy’s dynamism and good growth.”

 “During the first nine months of this year, the DFM has maintained its attractiveness to foreign investors, as they have registered net purchases of Dhs2 billion. The market also attracted 1121 new investors, lifting the total number of its investor base to 844,245 investors,” Essa Kazim added.

Efforts to further attract foreign investments Commenting on DFM’s efforts to attract further foreign investments, Essa Kazim said: “The DFM has organised its International Investors Roadshows in New York and London and both achieved significant success. The Roadshows have delivered a strong message on international institutions’ confidence in the economic climate in Dubai and the UAE as well as their robust appetite towards DFM-listed companies and we are confident that this demand will boost the market activity in the coming period.”

Robust presence of foreign and institutional investments The DFM maintains a strong presence of foreign and institutional investments as institutions’ ownership reached 83.4% of the Market Capitalization at the end of September 2019 with 54.5% share of trading. Similarly, foreign investors are upholding their active participation with 47.6% of trading and 17.3% ownership of the Market Capitalization at the end of the third quarter of 2019.

Expansion in DFM’s smart services “As part of its efforts to provide various market participants with smart and digital solutions, the DFM has launched “myAccount” service during the third quarter of this year. The new electronic account enables investors to seamlessly transfer dividends amounts to their iVESTOR Card accounts, bank accounts as well as to pay for IPOs and Right Issues subscription,” Essa Kazim said.

Leading corporate governance and sustainability initiatives Additionally, the DFM’s unceasing efforts to promote best practices of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and sustainability within the financial markets sector have accelerated with the launch of its Sustainability Strategic Plan 2025.

“The plan aims to underpin DFM’s successes in this field by creating long-term shared values for DFM stakeholders and ultimately positioning it as the region’s leading sustainable financial market by 2025. The Strategy’s four pillars are; Sustainability Reporting & Disclosures, Sustainable Investment Education, Green Products & Listings, and Gender Balance & Empowering People. Moreover, the DFM is actively collaborating with various institutions to instill sustainability and governance, in line with the UAE Sustainable Development Goals 2030 and Dubai’s Strategic Plan 2021, hence the DFM and the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) have jointly launched the “Dubai Sustainable Finance Working Group” in cooperation other 10 founding members,” Kazim concluded.