Abu Dhabi's IHC triples net profit on strong performance across units

International Holding Company, the UAE's most valuable listed company, tripled its net profit in the third quarter of 2022, driven by a robust performance across all its operational assets.

Net profit attributable to the owners of the company for the three month period to end of September reached more than Dh6.4 billion ($1.7bn), compared with Dh2.1bn in the same period of last year, IHC said in a statement on Tuesday to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, where its shares are traded.

Revenue for the third quarter grew by about 48 per cent to Dh12.4bn.

IHC was founded in 1998 as part of an initiative to diversify and develop non-oil business sectors in the UAE. The company had a market value of about Dh736 billion at the close of trading on Tuesday.

“This is an outstanding result of which we can all be proud. It reflects the strength that IHC has developed in recent years,” Syed Shueb, IHC’s chief executive, said.

Continued momentum in strategic direct and indirect acquisitions, locally and internationally, were the main drivers behind the growth rate above the previous year's quarter, the company said.

The initiatives raised the company's total assets to Dh198.8bn in the July-September period from Dh64.4bn in third quarter of last year.

The key contributors to the total current assets include Alpha Dhabi Holding, Q Holding, International Securities, Al Seer Marine and Multiply Group, IHC said.

Net profit attributable to the owners of the company in the first nine months of the year rose 129 per cent on the year to more than Dh10.8bn, as revenue grew by more than 87 per cent to Dh34.3bn.

The company’s total cash and bank balances stood at Dh31.8bn in the September quarter against nearly Dh20.3bn last year.

The company’s acquisition total value in the third quarter crossed Dh13.5bn, which included the Dh10bn Taqa deal, Dh1.8bn in Kalyon Enerji, Dh1.5bn in Burjeel Holding and Dh250 million in Emircom, in which IHC acquired a majority stake.

IHC aims to publicly list more of its companies on the ADX growth markets.

The company has grown to become one of the most valuable listed holding companies in the Middle East and also expanded into countries like India and Turkey.

IHC's acquisitions in the three-month period were focused on supporting its future growth plans in strengthening its operations across targeted sectors such as technology, which included a 55 per cent shareholding in Cyber Gate Defence and completing a 15 per cent cornerstone investment in Bayanat after the quarter's end, it said.

It said that the company aims to deepen its investment in this space by building a giant technology holding arm by 2024.

Last month, IHC also made a foray into the South American market with a Dh734m investment in a Colombian company. It launched $2.1bn bid — through its subsidiary IHC Capital — to buy a stake in Colombia's Grupo Nutresa.

Going forward, IHC will continue to seek “sizeable acquisitions in the fourth quarter” to boost its bottom line, it said.

“IHC plans to remain focused on global market expansion, we have set an ambitious long-term goal to grow the number of our global business acquisitions by 70 per cent in the next 12 months,” Mr Shueb said.

“Our strong financial performance positions us well to enter new territories. IHC’s expansion and acquisition appetite will remain robust ahead, as we continue to focus on our capabilities which is informing our growth path, including how we approach acquisitions, as this is one of our competitive advantages.”

Farage on Muslim Brotherhood

Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.

SNAPSHOT

While Huawei did launch the first smartphone with a 50MP image sensor in its P40 series in 2020, Oppo in 2014 introduced the Find 7, which was capable of taking 50MP images: this was done using a combination of a 13MP sensor and software that resulted in shots seemingly taken from a 50MP camera.

Jetour T1 specs

Engine: 2-litre turbocharged

Power: 254hp

Torque: 390Nm

Price: From Dh126,000

Available: Now

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

What can you do?

Document everything immediately; including dates, times, locations and witnesses

Seek professional advice from a legal expert

You can report an incident to HR or an immediate supervisor

You can use the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation’s dedicated hotline

In criminal cases, you can contact the police for additional support

Specs

Engine: 51.5kW electric motor

Range: 400km

Power: 134bhp

Torque: 175Nm

Price: From Dh98,800

Available: Now

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

Islamophobia definition

A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.

Dr Amal Khalid Alias revealed a recent case of a woman with daughters, who specifically wanted a boy.

A semen analysis of the father showed abnormal sperm so the couple required IVF.

Out of 21 eggs collected, six were unused leaving 15 suitable for IVF.

A specific procedure was used, called intracytoplasmic sperm injection where a single sperm cell is inserted into the egg.

On day three of the process, 14 embryos were biopsied for gender selection.

The next day, a pre-implantation genetic report revealed four normal male embryos, three female and seven abnormal samples.

Day five of the treatment saw two male embryos transferred to the patient.

The woman recorded a positive pregnancy test two weeks later.