Dubai Financial Market delivers strong 2025 performance

Dubai Financial Market (DFM) today announced its consolidated financial results for the fiscal year ended 31st December 2025, reporting a net profit before tax of Dhs1.06 billion.

The results were driven by strong trading activity, expanding international participation, and sustained confidence in Dubai’s capital markets.

Performance in the fourth quarter supported the full-year outcome, with healthy liquidity levels and consistent trading activity toward year-end. The year also marked 25 years since the establishment of DFM in 2000, underscoring the exchange’s evolution into a globally connected and institutionally robust marketplace supporting Dubai’s long-term economic growth and capital markets development.

During 2025, the DFM General Index (DFMGI) rose by 17.2%, while total market capitalisation reached Dhs992 billion, highlighting the strength of market performance over the course of the year and reinforcing Dubai’s position as one of the region’s most dynamic and resilient capital markets.

Helal Saeed Al Marri, Chairman of DFM, said, “DFM’s performance in 2025 reflects the continued strength of Dubai’s capital markets and the confidence of global investors in the emirate’s economic vision. As we mark 25 years since the establishment of DFM, the exchange continues to play a central role within Dubai’s financial ecosystem, supporting transparency, liquidity, and long-term market development in line with the Dubai Economic Agenda D33.”

Hamed Ali, CEO of DFM and Nasdaq Dubai, said, “In 2025, DFM continued to build on the progress of recent years, supported by steady trading activity, growing international participation, and ongoing enhancements to our market infrastructure. Our focus throughout the year remained on improving market accessibility, supporting a broad range of investment activity, and ensuring the market continues to operate efficiently for both issuers and investors. As we mark 25 years of DFM, we remain committed to developing the market in line with Dubai’s long-term capital markets ambitions.”

For the full year 2025, DFM delivered strong financial results supported by higher trading activity, diversified income streams, and disciplined cost management.

Net profit before tax reached Dhs1.06 billion, compared to Dhs409.3 million in 2024. Total consolidated revenues rose to Dhs1.28 billion.

EBITDA amounted to Dhs1.13 billion, with an EBITDA margin of 88%.

Q4 2025 net profit before tax stood at Dhs124.4 million compared to Dhs110.6 million reported in Q42024, reflecting sustained market momentum toward year-end.

Market activity accelerated throughout 2025, delivering the highest levels of liquidity in more than a decade. Average daily traded value reached Dhs692 million, while total traded value amounted to Dhs 174 billion. The average daily number of trades increased by 31% year-on-year, supported by greater institutional participation and continued growth in cross-border trading activity.

DFM continued to attract a broad and diversified investor base in 2025, with sustained participation from both international and retail investors. 97,394 new investors joined the market during the year, of which 84% were foreign. Foreign investors accounted for 51% of total trading value and institutional investors representing 71% of trading activity. The total investor base stood at 1.25 million investors, underscoring DFM’s appeal as a trusted destination for regional and international capital.

DFM remained a resilient and trusted venue for capital formation in 2025, welcoming strategically significant transactions that expanded market depth and sectoral diversity.

These included the listing of Dubai Residential REIT, the region’s first publicly listed residential leasing REIT, which attracted IPO subscriptions of 26 times, with total demand reaching Dhs56 billion from institutional and retail investors.

The successful secondary public offering of Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (du) enhanced liquidity and free float, drawing strong demand from both regional and international investors.

In the construction and infrastructure sector, DFM welcomed the IPO of ALEC Holdings, the UAE’s largest construction sector listing to date. The offering generated subscriptions of Dhs30 billion, representing an oversubscription of 21 times, and attracted significant interest from global institutional investors.

Collectively, these transactions expanded DFM’s sectoral footprint across real estate, telecommunications, and construction, underscoring the exchange’s ability to support capital raising across diverse segments of the economy.

Innovation remained central to DFM’s strategy throughout 2025. The launch of a centralised Securities Lending and Borrowing (SLB) framework marked a key milestone in enhancing liquidity and enabling more sophisticated trading strategies.

DFM also continued to strengthen its digital infrastructure, including enhancements to iVestor with AI-enabled access to disclosures and market information, supporting greater transparency and investor engagement.

DFM further strengthened its convening role through the third edition of the Capital Market Summit, its marquee event, which brought together more than 1,500 global market participants, policymakers, and industry leaders to explore the forces shaping capital markets today. Sessions at the Summit focused on technology and digital transformation in market infrastructure, IPO trends and capital formation, cross-border capital flows, evolving investor behavior including the rise of retail participation, and the ongoing transformation of private markets.

On the sidelines of the Summit, DFM signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) to establish cooperation on cross-border listings, joint market promotion, investor outreach, and knowledge exchange, supporting DFM’s strategy to enhance connectivity with Asian markets and widen investor access across regions.

In parallel, DFM continued to strengthen international investor engagement in 2025 through targeted global roadshows in New York and London, engaging institutional investors across leading financial centres. These engagements provided a platform to highlight Dubai’s economic fundamentals, market depth, and investment opportunities, while reinforcing DFM’s role as a gateway connecting regional growth with international capital.

Looking ahead, DFM remains focused on enhancing liquidity, expanding product offerings, and deepening global connectivity. With a strong financial foundation and a growing, diversified investor base, DFM is well positioned to support the continued evolution of Dubai’s capital markets.

WAM