Waha Capital's 9-month profit jumps 31% to Dh466.9 million

Waha Capital, an investment company based in Abu Dhabi, has reported a net profit of Dh466.9 million for the first nine months of 2015.

The company’s profits were 31 percent higher than an adjusted net profit of Dh355.9 million achieved in the first nine months of 2014, after taking out net non-recurring items, primarily the one-off gain that the company recorded last year on its stake in AerCap Holdings

Earnings were driven by the performance of key portfolio investments AerCap Holdings, Dunia Group and the capital markets division.

It recorded a third quarter net profit of Dh117.9 million. The company didn’t give comparative quarter figures.

Hussain Jasim Al Nowais, Chairman of Waha Capital said: "Waha Capital is performing very well against a difficult global macro-economic and markets backdrop. We are benefiting from an increasingly diversified portfolio, which includes investments in solid, well-managed companies. The company has a strong balance sheet and will invest further in some of the fastest growing sectors of the regional economy."

Salem Rashid Al Noaimi, CEO and Managing Director of Waha Capital added: "We are in a strong financial position, which allows us to focus on growing and further diversifying our assets. Our investment teams are assessing new direct investment opportunities in energy, infrastructure, healthcare and education, and current market conditions mean that this is an opportune period to deploy capital in these areas. Waha Capital’s Capital Markets Division will also begin to market its public equities and credit funds to regional investors in the coming weeks, marking the launch of a new fee-generating business."

AerCap, in which Waha Capital owns a 13.6 per cent stake, reported a net profit of $914.5 million for the first nine months of 2015, a 78.5 percent increase from a year earlier. Earnings per share increased 41.9 per cent to $4.44 over that nine-month period. During that period, AerCap signed lease agreements for 216 aircraft and executed sale and part-out transactions for 55 aircraf t.

Meanwhile, Dunia Finance, in which Waha Capital owns a 25 per cent stake, recorded net income of Dh165.9 million for the first nine months of 2015, a 25 per cent year-on-year rise, as low interest rates continue to increase demand for consumer financing. The company now has a customer base of 199,000 and achieved 39.2 percent growth in its loan portfolio in the year to 30 September 2015. In that period, customer deposits have also witnessed strong growth, increasing by 52.9 per cent year on year to Dh1.1 billion as at 30 September 2015.

The Capital Markets Division of Waha Capital generated income of Dh167.4 million in the first nine months, and launched equities and fixed income funds that will be offered to third-party investors during the fourth quarter of this year.

Despite volatility in global financial markets in recent months, the fixed income portfolio has generated a cumulative return of 58.4 per cent since its inception in 2012 and a year-to-date return of 7.6 per cent. The equity portfolio has generated a cumulative return of 44.3 per cent since its inception in January 2014, and a year-to-date return of 9.8 per cent.

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