Emaar Malls Group Q3 net profit rises 55%

EMG Q3 profit 321.2 mln dhs vs 207 mln dhs yr-ago - statement; Q3 revenue 648.9 mln dhs, up 19.7 pct y-o-y; parent Emaar calls shareholder meeting for Nov. 24 - statement; meeting to approve special dividend following EMG listing  

Dubai's Emaar Malls Group  (EMG), a unit of Emaar Properties that listed on the emirate's main stock market in October, reported a 55.2 percent jump in third-quarter net profit on Thursday as revenues rose.

The retail and malls unit of Dubai's largest developer made a quarterly profit of 321.18 million dirhams ($87.5 million), up from 206.97 million dirhams in the corresponding period of 2013.

Quarterly revenue was 649.88 million dirhams versus 542.74 million dirhams a year ago.

EMG priced the largest stock flotation in the Gulf region since 2008 at the end of September, raising 5.8 billion dirhams from the sale of 15.4 percent of the company.

Emaar Properties said in August it would pay a special dividend of 9 billion dirhams to its shareholders after EMG went public, using cash raised from the offering and other dividends paid by EMG to the parent firm prior to listing.

In a separate Emaar Properties statement on Thursday, the developer said it will hold a shareholder meeting on November 24 in which a proposal to distribute the cash dividend, equivalent to 1.27 dirhams per share, would be discussed.

The statement added shareholders registered as of December 4 would be entitled to this dividend, which is significantly above the 0.14 dirhams a share Emaar paid as a dividend for 2013.

According to analysts, the cutoff date implies Emaar could pay the dividend that month, which would be ahead of its annual dividend payout in early 2015.

Many traders had assumed the malls-related dividend would be paid at the same time as the annual dividend, so Thursday's statement could boost Emaar's shares when trading resumes on Sunday.

Both statements came after market hours. Shares in EMG had finished the day flat, while Emaar Properties slumped 3.4 percent, against a wider market decline of 1.7 percent.

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