Investors flocked to trade shares of Dubai-listed companies this year, driving up profits sevenfold at the Dubai Financial Market Company in the second quarter.
The bourse benefited from increased share-trading activity in the lead-up to the UAE's upgrade to emerging markets status by the index compiler MSCI reporting net income in the period ended June 30 of Dh69.5 million - up more than 580 per cent from the year earlier's figure of Dh10.2m.
A consensus of analysts polled by Bloomberg expected the company to report earnings of Dh64m. MSCI, whose indexes are tracked by investors with about US$7 trillion in assets, upgraded the UAE to "emerging market" from its previous "frontier" classification on June 12. The company registered 14,359 new investors in the first half of the year, compared with 5,097 a year earlier.
DFM's "development efforts have been well recognised by local and international investors with reignited interest towards the market since the beginning of this year," said the chief executive Essa Kazim. The MSCI upgrade had also offered a confirmation to sophisticated investors that key market infrastructure has been implemented, he added. Revenues in the second quarter more than doubled to Dh112.7m from Dh49.6m in the same period last year. Expenses reached Dh43.2m, a slight increase from last year's Dh39.4m.
The markets have been boosted by a trading bonanza over the past year, amid renewed investor interest, helped by a strong economic recovery and an uptick in merger and acquisition activity in blue-chip companies.
The Dubai Financial Market General Index has risen 63.2 per cent so far this year, trading at 2,541.52 points. It has outperformed the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange General Index, which has risen 54.5 per cent over the same period, trading at 3,857.52. "There was a big shift in momentum," said Tariq Qaqish, the head of asset management at Al Mal Capital in Dubai. "It was a combination between improved investor confidence, better liquidity, stronger economic growth and a stream of positive news."
Trading activity, of which commission income remains the bread and butter of the exchange, has staged a remarkable recovery.
The stock market traded Dh38 billion worth of shares in the second quarter, compared with Dh11.8bn a year earlier.
Investors are awaiting further information on a potential merger of the Dubai Financial Market and Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, Mr Qaqish said. The development was first mooted three years ago.
Sultan Al Mansouri, the Minister of Economy, in March last year reassured the market that the plans were still being considered.
"The deal is not off the table. [The merger] is still being discussed," he said in an interview with The National at the time.
"Consolidation makes perfect sense given the size and liquidity of the two exchanges. This has become more apparent in light of the recent upgrade by MSCI," said Rami Sidani, the head of Schroder's Middle East and North Africa desk.
"Unfortunately it's very hard to speculate because the decision has been due to the lack of transparency and the process has been on the table for a very long time."
Shares of the Dubai Financial Market Company, the bourse's floated stock, have risen by more than 100 per cent this year.
"The stock price is not being driven by price to earnings, but by further speculation over the merger," Mr Qaqish said. They closed 4.5 per cent higher at Dh2.07 each in trading yesterday, before the release of the exchange's financial results.
halsayegh@thenational.ae
The Scale for Clinical Actionability of Molecular Targets
The%20specs
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ICC Awards for 2021
MEN
Cricketer of the Year – Shaheen Afridi (Pakistan)
T20 Cricketer of the Year – Mohammad Rizwan (Pakistan)
ODI Cricketer of the Year – Babar Azam (Pakistan)
Test Cricketer of the Year – Joe Root (England)
WOMEN
Cricketer of the Year – Smriti Mandhana (India)
ODI Cricketer of the Year – Lizelle Lee (South Africa)
T20 Cricketer of the Year – Tammy Beaumont (England)
Five ways to get fit like Craig David (we tried for seven but ran out of time)
Start the week as you mean to go on. So get your training on strong on a Monday.
Train hard, but don’t take it all so seriously that it gets to the point where you’re not having fun and enjoying your friends and your family and going out for nice meals and doing that stuff.
Think about what you’re training or eating a certain way for — don’t, for example, get a six-pack to impress somebody else or lose weight to conform to society’s norms. It’s all nonsense.
Get your priorities right.
And last but not least, you should always, always chill on Sundays.
U19 World Cup in South Africa
Group A: India, Japan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka
Group B: Australia, England, Nigeria, West Indies
Group C: Bangladesh, Pakistan, Scotland, Zimbabwe
Group D: Afghanistan, Canada, South Africa, UAE
UAE fixtures
Saturday, January 18, v Canada
Wednesday, January 22, v Afghanistan
Saturday, January 25, v South Africa
UAE squad
Aryan Lakra (captain), Vriitya Aravind, Deshan Chethyia, Mohammed Farazuddin, Jonathan Figy, Osama Hassan, Karthik Meiyappan, Rishabh Mukherjee, Ali Naseer, Wasi Shah, Alishan Sharafu, Sanchit Sharma, Kai Smith, Akasha Tahir, Ansh Tandon
'The worst thing you can eat'
Trans fat is typically found in fried and baked goods, but you may be consuming more than you think.
Powdered coffee creamer, microwave popcorn and virtually anything processed with a crust is likely to contain it, as this guide from Mayo Clinic outlines:
Baked goods - Most cakes, cookies, pie crusts and crackers contain shortening, which is usually made from partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Ready-made frosting is another source of trans fat.
Snacks - Potato, corn and tortilla chips often contain trans fat. And while popcorn can be a healthy snack, many types of packaged or microwave popcorn use trans fat to help cook or flavour the popcorn.
Fried food - Foods that require deep frying — french fries, doughnuts and fried chicken — can contain trans fat from the oil used in the cooking process.
Refrigerator dough - Products such as canned biscuits and cinnamon rolls often contain trans fat, as do frozen pizza crusts.
Creamer and margarine - Nondairy coffee creamer and stick margarines also may contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Bareilly Ki Barfi
Directed by: Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari
Starring: Kriti Sanon, Ayushmann Khurrana, Rajkummar Rao
Three and a half stars
MATCH RESULT
Al Jazira 3 Persepolis 2
Jazira: Mabkhout (52'), Romarinho (77'), Al Hammadi (90' 6)
Persepolis: Alipour (42'), Mensha (84')
Company%20Profile
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MATCH INFO
Liverpool 0
Stoke City 0
Man of the Match: Erik Pieters (Stoke)
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Keane on …
Liverpool’s Uefa Champions League bid: “They’re great. With the attacking force they have, for me, they’re certainly one of the favourites. You look at the teams left in it - they’re capable of scoring against anybody at any given time. Defensively they’ve been good, so I don’t see any reason why they couldn’t go on and win it.”
Mohamed Salah’s debut campaign at Anfield: “Unbelievable. He’s been phenomenal. You can name the front three, but for him on a personal level, he’s been unreal. He’s been great to watch and hopefully he can continue now until the end of the season - which I’m sure he will, because he’s been in fine form. He’s been incredible this season.”
Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s instant impact at former club LA Galaxy: “Brilliant. It’s been a great start for him and for the club. They were crying out for another big name there. They were lacking that, for the prestige of LA Galaxy. And now they have one of the finest stars. I hope they can go win something this year.”
The biog
Hometown: Cairo
Age: 37
Favourite TV series: The Handmaid’s Tale, Black Mirror
Favourite anime series: Death Note, One Piece and Hellsing
Favourite book: Designing Brand Identity, Fifth Edition
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Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Profile
Company name: Jaib
Started: January 2018
Co-founders: Fouad Jeryes and Sinan Taifour
Based: Jordan
Sector: FinTech
Total transactions: over $800,000 since January, 2018
Investors in Jaib's mother company Alpha Apps: Aramex and 500 Startups
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
Hotel Silence
Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
Pushkin Press
UAE%20set%20for%20Scotland%20series
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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