Union Properties is predicting an improved first quarter when it reports its results, after property transactions in Dubai surged 53 per cent.
"The first quarter looks positive, much better than 2011 … and if there is a continuation of that trend it should benefit the sector in the medium term," said Khalid bin Kalban, the chief executive in Dubai.
Investors made 654 land sales, which include apartments, villas and townhouses, between January 1 and March 31, official data from the Dubai Land Department shows, compared with 426 transactions in the year-earlier period.
Dubai's developers have struggled to deal with a drop in property prices since the downturn in the third quarter of 2008, when the global financial crisis froze credit markets and blocked access to funding. Union Properties reported a profit of Dh22.3 million in the first quarter of last year.
"We as Union Properties have two things to deal with: fair value of properties; and the operations of the company," Mr bin Kalban said. "From an operations perspective, we have managed to do well even in the most difficult of years, but it is up to the market to determine what the fair value of these assets will look like."
Union Properties' full-year loss widened from Dh1.53 billion in 2010 to Dh1.57bn last year. But revenue climbed from Dh2.87bn Dh4.92bn in the same period.
The Dubai developer secured a loan of Dh400m in February from Emirates NBD, its largest shareholder, to complete two stalled hotels under construction in Dubai's MotorCity. In January, Union Properties reached an accord with the lender to reschedule Dh2.7bn worth of debt, extending maturities by five years.
The developer is preparing to tender a contract to finish the Renaissance hotel and the Marriott Courtyard, which are about 70 per cent complete, Mr bin Kalban said.
Dubai's stock market has already started to rally, up 25.8 per cent, he added.
[ halsayegh@thenational.ae ]
KEY DATES IN AMAZON'S HISTORY
July 5, 1994: Jeff Bezos founds Cadabra Inc, which would later be renamed to Amazon.com, because his lawyer misheard the name as 'cadaver'. In its earliest days, the bookstore operated out of a rented garage in Bellevue, Washington
July 16, 1995: Amazon formally opens as an online bookseller. Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought becomes the first item sold on Amazon
1997: Amazon goes public at $18 a share, which has grown about 1,000 per cent at present. Its highest closing price was $197.85 on June 27, 2024
1998: Amazon acquires IMDb, its first major acquisition. It also starts selling CDs and DVDs
2000: Amazon Marketplace opens, allowing people to sell items on the website
2002: Amazon forms what would become Amazon Web Services, opening the Amazon.com platform to all developers. The cloud unit would follow in 2006
2003: Amazon turns in an annual profit of $75 million, the first time it ended a year in the black
2005: Amazon Prime is introduced, its first-ever subscription service that offered US customers free two-day shipping for $79 a year
2006: Amazon Unbox is unveiled, the company's video service that would later morph into Amazon Instant Video and, ultimately, Amazon Video
2007: Amazon's first hardware product, the Kindle e-reader, is introduced; the Fire TV and Fire Phone would come in 2014. Grocery service Amazon Fresh is also started
2009: Amazon introduces Amazon Basics, its in-house label for a variety of products
2010: The foundations for Amazon Studios were laid. Its first original streaming content debuted in 2013
2011: The Amazon Appstore for Google's Android is launched. It is still unavailable on Apple's iOS
2014: The Amazon Echo is launched, a speaker that acts as a personal digital assistant powered by Alexa
2017: Amazon acquires Whole Foods for $13.7 billion, its biggest acquisition
2018: Amazon's market cap briefly crosses the $1 trillion mark, making it, at the time, only the third company to achieve that milestone
The biog
Favourite pet: cats. She has two: Eva and Bito
Favourite city: Cape Town, South Africa
Hobby: Running. "I like to think I’m artsy but I’m not".
Favourite move: Romantic comedies, specifically Return to me. "I cry every time".
Favourite spot in Abu Dhabi: Saadiyat beach
