Dubai's Emaar Properties on Sunday confirmed disappointing second quarter net profit after its shares fell nearly 4 percent in anticipation of the results. The real estate giant said in a statement after the close of trade that second quarter net profit was 1.208 billion dirhams ($328.9 million), down from a record 1.33 billion in the first quarter.
Emaar shares had closed 3.7 percent lower at 39.00 dirhams after its chairman, Mohammed Ali Alabbar, told a meeting of shareholders late on Saturday that profit for the three months to June 30 was about 1.2 billion dirhams.
"I'm surprised the share price didn't drop more," said Walid Shihabi, head of research at Dubai-based investment bank Shuaa Capital. "The market had priced in lofty expectations of around 2 billion dirhams."
First half net profit was 2.53 billion dirhams, up 384 percent from a year earlier.
Emaar's shares quadrupled in the first half of 2004 to a peak of 48.50 dirhams in late June, as the leading state-backed developer performed strongly on the back of a real estate boom in Dubai, a trading hub in the energy-rich United Arab Emirates.
Shares have retreated since as some investors revised down their forecasts, but analysts said most had remained confident Emaar would beat its first-quarter earnings.