Dubai’s Emaar Properties Q2 net profit rises 16 pct

Dubai's Emaar Properties, builder of the world's tallest tower, reported a 16 percent rise in second-quarter net profit on Sunday as other income increased and it received more money in income tax credits.

The developer, in which Dubai's government owns a minority stake, made a net profit of 1.18 billion dirhams ($321.3 million) in the three months to June 30, up from $278 million on the prior-year period, Emaar said in a statement.

SICO Bahrain had forecast Emaar's second-quarter profit would be $222 million.

The developer has now reported rising profits in nine straight quarters and achieved its latest increase despite relatively sluggish revenue growth and with analysts noting a marked slowdown in Dubai's recently resurgent property sector.

Emaar's second-quarter revenue was $947 million, up from $909 million a year earlier. Cost of revenue rose 11 percent to $444 million.

The firm's other income swung to a gain of $39 million from a small loss a year ago and it also received income
tax credits of $25 million versus $2 million in the second quarter of 2014.

For the first half of this year, Emaar's net profit rose 12 percent to $602 million as revenue increased 13 percent to $2 billion.

Emaar generated $2 billion in Dubai property sales in the first half of 2015.

It did not provide a comparative figure for the same period of last year, but consultants have noted a substantial slowdown in the emirate's property sector.

Home sales shrank by about two-thirds in the first half of 2015, and prices also slipped, with further declines expected over the rest of the year, property consultants JLL said in a report last week.