Business Bureau, Gulf Today

Emaar Development , the UAE build-to-sell property development business, majority-owned by Emaar Properties, delivered resilient 2020 year-end results. The company reported property sales of Dhs 6.308 billion ($1.717 billion) and recorded revenue of Dhs9.758 billion ($2.657 billion) with a net profit of Dhs1.657 billion ($ 451 million) for 2020.

With the property market continuing to recover, Emaar achieved month-on-month growth in sales throughout the second half of 2020 (July to December).  Emaar now has a healthy sales backlog of Dhs24.605 billion.

Mohamed Alabbar, Founder of Emaar Properties and Emaar Development said: “Despite the challenges of the pandemic, we remained focused on progressing at great speed with all of our projects during 2020. The progress underlines Emaar Development’s commitment to delivering the highest of quality homes on time to our customers.

“Our proven agility allowed us to achieve robust results in the second half of the year. We expect this vigorous trend to continue in the year ahead, supported by our best-in-class projects.”

Emaar Development has delivered approximately 4,800 residential units in 2020 across prime locations, including Dubai Hills Estate, Dubai Creek Harbour,

Downtown Dubai, Arabian Ranches and Emaar South. As of December 2020, Emaar has delivered more than 47,000 residential units, with over 26,000 residences currently under development in the UAE.

Emaar Development is expected to deliver over 6,000 residential units in 2021 across various masterplans mainly in Dubai Creek Harbour, Dubai Hills Estate and Downtown Dubai.

Meanwhile, Shuaa, the leading asset management and investment banking platform in the region, has announced its preliminary financial results for fiscal year 2020.

The Group achieved a net profit of Dhs 125 million in FY 2020, up 166% year on year from Dhs 47 million in 2019. EBITDA also increased to Dhs348 million in FY 2020, an increase of 87% year on year. These preliminary results reflect Dhs 73 million in valuation adjustments in the non-core assets unit as a measure to accelerate its wind down, Dhs 104 million net mark-to-market gains on portfolio assets including associates and Dhs 114 million other valuation adjustments on investment portfolios.

Commenting on Shuaa’s 2020 results, Jassim Alseddiqi, Group Chief Executive Officer of SHUAA Capital, said: “We have a clear strategy for long-term growth and in 2020 Shuaa has made excellent progress in realising these plans. We achieved key milestones and landmark transactions, all whilst delivering a transformational integration programme against a backdrop of a global pandemic. It is therefore particularly pleasing that we have more than doubled profits year-on-year, proving the resilience and potential of our business model.

We entered 2021 with a strengthened business – having realized further cost and revenue synergies, strengthened our balance sheet and continued to introduce innovative new products which will boost our recurring revenues for the long-term. We remain well placed to deliver on our growth ambitions, with strong momentum across our business and an exciting pipeline of investment opportunities.”

Against a backdrop of the global COVID-19 pandemic, as well as SHUAA’s transformational post-merger integration programme following its merger with Abu Dhabi Financial Group in August 2019, the robust financial performance was underpinned by key strategic progress. In particular, management focused on increasing recurring revenues through the launch of new permanent capital vehicles but also on strengthening operations and profitability as well as realizing targeted synergies in the first full-year post-merger. The Group also made substantial progress on strengthening its governance and risk frameworks as well as its IT and system infrastructure. These key initiatives, developments and product launches, coupled with FX gains led to the Group reaching its record AUM of USD 14.1 billion, an increase of 4% from the previous quarter.

Despite strong headwinds caused by the pandemic, the Group maintained its profitability for a third consecutive quarter. Q4 2020 net income attributable to shareholders stands at AED 61 million and EBITDA at AED 108 million. The significant valuation adjustments across the Group’s listed and unlisted assets and portfolios were considerably outweighed by the closing of a landmark transaction, arranging the debt buyout of Stanford Marine Group, in the final quarter of 2020.

SHUAA successfully completed its 2020 funding plan by issuing a USD 150 million bond, the first high-yield bond issuance in the MENA region since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The issuance has helped optimize the funding and balance sheet structure as the Group continues to focus on overall de-leveraging in line with Group targets.

In addition, the non-core assets unit has been further reduced from AED 306 million to AED 174 million during the year. The Group has made AED 57 million of proactive valuation adjustments in Q4 which will help accelerate the closure of the unit ahead of the original target date.