Dubai Financial Market, the only publically-traded bourse in the Arabian Gulf, reported a 9 per cent increase in second quarter net profit as income from investments grew.
Net profit for the three months ending June 30 climbed to Dh37 million, the DFM said in a statement on its website. Investment income rose to Dh36.6m for the second quarter, up from Dh30.4m in the corresponding period, it added.
Revenue climbed to Dh85.6m at the end of June from Dh83.3m reported for the second quarter of 2018 . Expenses for the period, however, fell slightly to Dh48.6m from Dh49.4m, it said.
The bourse, which relies mainly on income from trading, said trading commission fees declined to Dh33m at the end of the second quarter of 2019 from Dh37.5m reported for the same period in 2018.
The DFM said its net profit for the first six months of this year dropped to Dh65.1m from Dh82.8m reported for the first half of 2018.
Equities listed on Dubai and Abu Dhabi stock exchanges, the two main bourses of the UAE, offer the most attractive proposition, making the UAE the “preferred investable market” in the GCC for those seeking value, investment bank EFG-Hermes said in July.
The UAE is the only major market in the Arabian Gulf trading at a discount to emerging markets on price-to-earnings multiple – a measure to value a company based on its current share price relative to its per-share earnings, the Cairo-based bank said in a research note to investors. Dubai is trading at a 41 per cent discount and the bourse, along with Abu Dhabi's market, offers the highest yields on traded equities in the GCC, it noted.
