DUBAI - Dubai's Emaar Properties said third-quarter net operating profit rose 53 percent, helped by higher margins on property delivered in the period.Emaar, in the midst of merging with three real estate subsidiaries of Dubai Holding, said July-September net operating profit was 655 million dirhams ($178 million), to be 48 percent higher quarter-on-quarter.
"The increase in profitability is due to the higher margin relating to Alma townhomes in (Dubai residential development) Arabian Ranches handed over during the third quarter," the company said on Thursday.
Chairman Mohamed Alabbar said: "Today, there are clear signals of real estate prices gaining momentum in premium areas... The city remains on track for sustained growth, despite the impact of the global financial crisis, which will further boost the property sector."
Third-quarter revenues were 1.95 billion dirhams.
The builder of the world's tallest tower made a nine-month operating profit of 1.4 billion dirhams on revenues of 5.4 billion dirhams.
"Emaar is now using a completed project method for accounting, which is having a positive effect on its statement and we should probably see that in the fourth quarter too," said Robert McKinnon, managing director at Al Mal Capital.
"The most important thing is that we've seen the beginning of some normalisation of earnings and Emaar is again showing its ability to execute to plan on a regular basis."
Emaar shares closed up 0.2 percent at 4.61 dirhams, outperforming the broader Dubai market which fell 0.6 percent.
"These results mean Emaar is trading around 10 times P/E (price to earnings) if you were to annualise these quarterly earnings. If the property market and the economy recover, there should be further upside for the stock," McKinnon said.