Emaar Properties shareholders approve 10% dividend payment for 2020

Shareholders also elect new board members as the company plans its next growth phase

Emaar maintained its market position, despite the challenges brought by the pandemic, founder of the company Mohamed Alabbar said. Satish Kumar / The National

Emaar Properties shareholders approved a dividend payment representing 10 per cent of the company's share capital for 2020 at its general assembly meeting on Sunday.

Shareholders also elected a new board of directors for 2021 including Emaar Properties founder Mohamed Alabbar,  Jassim Al Ali, Ahmad Al Matrooshi and Jamal Bin Theniyah during the meeting, Emaar said in a statement to the Dubai Financial Market on Sunday. Other members include Butti Obaid AlMulla, Eman Abdulrazzaq, Ahmed Jawa, Helel Saeed Almarri, and Sultan AlMansoori.

“We have been able to maintain our market position, despite the challenges brought by the pandemic and are looking forward to the development of our future innovative projects,” Mr Alabbar, said.

The company reported property sales of Dh10.9 billion ($2.96bn) for 2020, including Dh6.3bn worth of sales in the UAE.

As of the end of last year, Emaar had handed over more than 72,100 residential units since inception in 2002, more than 47,000 of which were in the UAE. It currently has more than 26,000 units under development in the UAE and 12,000 in global markets, it said.

“With the recent merger of Emaar Properties and Emaar Malls that was announced on March 2, Emaar Properties and Emaar Malls will continue to pursue the satisfaction of commercial and regulatory conditions until further notice,” the company said.

As part of that transaction, Emaar Malls shareholders (excluding Emaar Properties) will receive 0.51 Emaar Properties shares for every one Emaar Malls share held.

Emaar Malls, which owns and operates outlets including The Dubai Mall and Dubai Marina Mall, saw its full-year profit drop to Dh703.6m in 2020, down from Dh2.2bn in 2019, the company said in a filing to the Dubai Financial Market in February.