UAE's Aldar Q3 profits rise, books January land sales

Aldar Properties' reported high third quarter profits on Thursday, the third consecutive quarterly increase after massive losses in 2010, as the Abu Dhabi-based developer booked gains from a January land sale to the government.

The builder of the Yas Marina Formula One circuit said it had profit of Dh144 million for the quarter ended September 30, compared with a net loss of Dh731.2m in the same period a year ago, it said in a statement.

The earnings beat analyst average forecasts for profit of Dh139.8m.

Revenues for the quarter were Dh3.13 billion compared with Dh505.3m in the same quarter in 2010. Revenues included Dh2.6bn from land sales to the Abu Dhabi government which bailed out the indebted developer earlier this year.

In the third quarter, Aldar raised borrowings of Dh734.6m, it said in the statement.

Aldar got a $5.2bn rescue package from Abu Dhabi earlier this year, and sold many of its properties including the Ferrari theme park and other land assets to the government.

It also issued planned mandatory convertible bonds of Dh2.8bn in March to state-owned investment vehicle Mubadala.

Aldar recently appointed Greg Fewer, an executive at Mubadala, as it new chief financial officer, in a growing indication of the government's influence in the company.

Aldar said it earned revenues of Dh67.3m from its hotel segment and Dh29.6m from schools.

Real estate firms in United Arab Emirates were hit hard by the global financial crisis in 2008 with property prices dropping by about 60 per cent from its peak.

Aldar is limping back to recovery after posting record quarterly losses at the end of 2010. Investors in Aldar's $1.1bn Islamic bond, due on November 10, are betting it will repay the issue even if it means more aid from Abu Dhabi.

Aldar's shares ended one per cent higher before the announcement.