Developer Aldar Properties expects its fee-based revenue to increase as it expands its asset management business amid growing profitability.
The company manages about Dh2 billion in assets owned by third parties and is “taking on more asset management” projects, chief executive Talal Al Dhiyebi told Bloomberg TV yesterday.
Aldar Development, the unit responsible for developing its 7,500-hectare land bank in Abu Dhabi, also reported strong growth.
“Our development unit, which is normally more cyclical compared to our asset management [business], right now gives a very strong recurring income,” said Mr Al Dhiyebi.
He said cash collection for the developer remained strong.
The strength of Abu Dhabi’s economy and the fundamentals of its property market helped Aldar buck the trend and grow its development business despite a tough year for the property market.
“The story in Abu Dhabi has been [of] well-balanced demand and supply. There were pockets of oversupply in some areas ... [but] we have seen a big shift in Abu Dhabi towards horizontal development,” said Mr Al Dhiyebi.
He said some research reports revealed that the prices of villas and town houses had increased last year.
“I think one’s ability to swap different locations and different products and really focus on the customer can ... drive results.”
The company’s leadership position and its “diversified business model” allowed it “to see these pockets of demand early on”, he said.
Aldar Properties, the UAE's biggest listed developer, revamped its business last month and now operates on a model where a parent company oversees its core development and investment businesses.
Chief executives were appointed to run each of the core divisions.
Jonathan Emery heads Aldar Development, which has three subsidiaries: Aldar Projects, Aldar Ventures and Aldar Egypt.
The projects arm is responsible for delivering the company’s own communities and its fee-based development management services, including government housing and infrastructure projects worth Dh45bn.
Aldar Ventures seeks new business opportunities while the Egyptian arm will be responsible for the developer’s expansion into the North African country.
Aldar Investment, headed by Jassem Busaibe, manages a Dh16bn portfolio of recurring income assets. Its subsidiaries include Aldar Education, Aldar Hospitality and Leisure and Aldar Estates.
The Abu Dhabi developer, which reported a 28 per cent increase in fourth-quarter net profit to Dh729 million, said on Sunday that revenue at its development unit rose by 53 per cent to Dh1.59bn. A 65 per cent increase in property sales at its projects on Saadiyat Island and Yas Island underpinned the revenue growth.
Aldar’s chief financial officer Greg Fewer said the new Egyptian unit reflects a “statement of intent from our side that Egypt is a particularly interesting market".
“We are spending a lot of time with our network, and there is an abundance of opportunity” for Aldar to develop property in Egypt, he told an online media briefing yesterday.
Mr Fewer said Aldar would look to invest “meaningful capital into the opportunity set” that emerges from the Arab world’s most populous country. He declined to give further details.
Aldar, whose property management unit Provis bought Asteco earlier this month for an undisclosed amount, will continue to look for more acquisitions, said Mr Fewer.
“Acquisitions are a core part of our business ... core to the asset management business to churn capital – sell assets at good prices and redeploy capital to create growth opportunities,” he said.
“Having disposed of Dh1bn of assets at the tail end of 2020, we have definitely allocated capital to invest in acquisitions both in our market and in Egypt.”
The company sold the Abu Dhabi Golf Club Complex and the Westin Hotel to an unnamed buyer for Dh180m, an increase of 13 per cent on the price it paid for the asset as part of a wider deal with Abu Dhabi's Tourism Development Company two years ago, it said in a statement in December.
Aldar does not need to raise capital given the strength of its balance sheet but it is “constantly monitoring the market” for fundraising opportunities, said Mr Fewer.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
What are the main cyber security threats?
Cyber crime - This includes fraud, impersonation, scams and deepfake technology, tactics that are increasingly targeting infrastructure and exploiting human vulnerabilities.
Cyber terrorism - Social media platforms are used to spread radical ideologies, misinformation and disinformation, often with the aim of disrupting critical infrastructure such as power grids.
Cyber warfare - Shaped by geopolitical tension, hostile actors seek to infiltrate and compromise national infrastructure, using one country’s systems as a springboard to launch attacks on others.
PAKISTAN SQUAD
Abid Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Shan Masood, Azhar Ali (test captain), Babar Azam (T20 captain), Asad Shafiq, Fawad Alam, Haider Ali, Iftikhar Ahmad, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Faheem Ashraf, Haris Rauf, Imran Khan, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Sohail Khan, Usman Shinwari, Wahab Riaz, Imad Wasim, Kashif Bhatti, Shadab Khan and Yasir Shah.
Challenge Cup result:
1. UAE 3 faults
2. Ireland 9 faults
3. Brazil 11 faults
4. Spain 15 faults
5. Great Britain 17 faults
6. New Zealand 20 faults
7. Italy 26 faults
Gender pay parity on track in the UAE
The UAE has a good record on gender pay parity, according to Mercer's Total Remuneration Study.
"In some of the lower levels of jobs women tend to be paid more than men, primarily because men are employed in blue collar jobs and women tend to be employed in white collar jobs which pay better," said Ted Raffoul, career products leader, Mena at Mercer. "I am yet to see a company in the UAE – particularly when you are looking at a blue chip multinationals or some of the bigger local companies – that actively discriminates when it comes to gender on pay."
Mr Raffoul said most gender issues are actually due to the cultural class, as the population is dominated by Asian and Arab cultures where men are generally expected to work and earn whereas women are meant to start a family.
"For that reason, we see a different gender gap. There are less women in senior roles because women tend to focus less on this but that’s not due to any companies having a policy penalising women for any reasons – it’s a cultural thing," he said.
As a result, Mr Raffoul said many companies in the UAE are coming up with benefit package programmes to help working mothers and the career development of women in general.
U19 WORLD CUP, WEST INDIES
UAE group fixtures (all in St Kitts)
- Saturday 15 January: UAE beat Canada by 49 runs
- Thursday 20 January: v England
- Saturday 22 January: v Bangladesh
UAE squad:
Alishan Sharafu (captain), Shival Bawa, Jash Giyanani, Sailles
Jaishankar, Nilansh Keswani, Aayan Khan, Punya Mehra, Ali Naseer, Ronak Panoly,
Dhruv Parashar, Vinayak Raghavan, Soorya Sathish, Aryansh Sharma, Adithya
Shetty, Kai Smith
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
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TALE OF THE TAPE
Manny Pacquiao
Record: 59-6-2 (38 KOs)
Age: 38
Weight: 146lbs
Height: 166cm
Reach: 170cm
Jeff Horn
Record: 16-0-1 (11 KOs)
Age: 29
Weight: 146.2lbs
Height: 175cm
Reach: 173cm
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Company%20Profile
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The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder MHEV
Power: 360bhp
Torque: 500Nm
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Price: from Dh282,870
On sale: now
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
The%20Kitchen
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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The five pillars of Islam
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Quick pearls of wisdom
Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”
Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets