Hospitality, rental income offsets Emaar’s villa sales drop

Dubai's Emaar Properties said on Thursday that its revenue from villa sales dropped by nearly 17 percent in the first quarter of the year, as it extracted more income from malls and hotels instead.

The builder of the world's tallest tower generated revenue of Dh256.91 million ($69.94 million) from sales of villas in the first quarter compared to Dh308.73 million in the corresponding period in 2013, a detailed earnings statement released on Thursday showed.

However, the decline was partly offset by an increase in revenue from its hospitality and rental portfolio.

Revenue from sales of apartment blocks, commercial units and land rose by just 2.9 per cent year-on-year to Dh653 million.

Emaar reported a 55 percent rise in first-quarter net profit in April, on the back of growing revenue from its malls and hospitality business.

The company plans to spin off and sell 25 per cent of Emaar Malls Group through a public offering likely to take place in London and Dubai later this year.

The cost of revenue from property sales in the quarter dropped to Dh815.16 million from Dh993.18 million a year ago.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.