The Abu Dhabi investment firm Waha Capital reported on Monday a 30 per cent fall in annual profit as the company’s earnings from some assets in its principal investments division slumped.
In a statement filed on the Abu Dhabi bourse, Waha said its net profit for 2016 fell 30.7 per cent to Dh407.1 million, from Dh587.8m a year earlier.
Waha said the slump was caused by some assets managed by its principal investments division making “lower contributions to the company’s income, partly due to prudent one-off provisions”.
Total income from the division, which includes the portfolio companies AerCap Holdings, Dunia Group, Waha Land, Stanford Marine Group, Mena Infrastructure Fund and National Petroleum Services, fell by 21 per cent to Dh514.4m in 2016.
Lower-income contributions were also reported from the Dubai consumer finance firm Dunia Group and the oil and gas services company Stanford Marine Group.
The company said that both had been affected by “challenging operating environments for their businesses”.
Nonetheless, Waha said that total income generated by the capital markets division increased 76 per cent to Dh345.8m in 2016.
It added that the Waha Cemeea fixed-income fund produced a total return of 20 per cent in 2016, despite high volatility in the global credit markets as the US Federal Reserve began to raise benchmark interest rates.
The Waha Mena Equity Fund gave a total return of 18 per cent, and the newly established Waha Mena Value Fund produced a total return of 16 per cent.
Waha said that New York-listed aircraft leasing firm AerCap Holdings, in which it owns a 15.2 per cent stake, reported a steady operating performance in 2016. The company signed lease agreements for 279 aircraft, purchased 38 aircraft and executed sale transactions for 141 aircraft.
The company reported that Waha Capital received gross distributions of Dh81.9m from its investment in the Mena Infrastructure Fund in the form of dividends and capital repayment. The fund, which was launched in 2007, exited from two of its four investments in 2016.
And total revenue at Anglo Arabian Healthcare, which is held as a seed asset by the private equity division, increased by 18 per cent last year.
“Waha Capital has reported another set of robust financial results, with our diversified sources of income helping to cushion the impact of the prudent one-off provisions on some of our assets,” said Salem Al Noaimi, Waha’s chief executive and managing director. “We are firm believers in our portfolio companies and we expect income contributions from them to increase in the future.”
The company recommended a dividend of 20 fils per share, subject to approval by shareholders at Waha Capital’s annual general meeting.
Waha Capital’s shares rose 1.7 per cent in early afternoon trading at Dh2.34.
lbarnard@thenational.ae
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