Dubai’s stock exchange reported a 167 per cent surge in net profit for last year amid higher trading activity after local stocks were incorporated into MSCI’s Emerging Markets Index and new listings boosted investor appetite.
Net income at the Dubai Financial Market Company stood at Dh759.3 million, compared with Dh284.6m a year earlier, it said . Revenue rose 107 per cent to Dh936.7m last year versus Dh453.1m a year earlier.
For the fourth quarter ended December 31, DFM’s net profit rose 31 per cent to Dh138.2m from Dh105.4m in the corresponding quarter a year earlier.
MSCI, whose indexes are tracked by investors managing US$9 trillion worth of assets, upgraded the UAE from a frontier market to an emerging market in 2013. Shares were removed from MSCI’s Frontier Markets Index last year and incorporated into the Emerging Markets Index.
The result has been a total net inflow of Dh4 billion from foreigners, the bourse said without giving the previous year’s figure.
“DFM has boosted its attractiveness to local and foreign investors when the UAE was classified as a global emerging market by leading international agencies such as MSCI and S&P Dow Jones,” said Essa Kazim, the chairman at Dubai Financial Market.
Last year’s public share sale of four companies – Marka, Emar Malls, Amanat Holding and Dubai Parks & Resorts – along with the listing of Damac Properties in Dubai, helped to boost trading.
Average daily traded value jumped 136.7 per cent to Dh1.5bn last year, compared with Dh642m the previous year. DFM’s board proposed a cash dividend of 7 fils per share. A year earlier it had paid a dividend of 5 fils a share.
Equity markets have since declined amid lower oil prices.
“Dubai’s exchange needs to bring in new listings, initial public offerings and increase volumes,” said Fathi Ben Grira, the chief executive at Abu Dhabi’s Menacorp, an Abu Dhabi-based brokerage. “We expect lower volumes this year, but new IPOs might compensate for them.”
halsayegh@thenational.ae
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