Dubai-government owned property developer Nakheel, which is building palm-tree shaped islands in the Gulf, said profit last year surged almost five-fold to $1.28 billion after selling more land, and building fewer homes. Nakheel is capitalising on surging demand for property in Dubai, whose economy is booming on a near six-fold increase in oil prices during the last six years.
Nakheel competes with Emaar Properties, the largest Arab real estate company, and is looking to raise about 5 billion dirhams ($1.36 billion) of equity to finance housing and infrastructure projects via an initial public offering of two real estate investment trusts (REITs). In contrast, Emaar profit last year rose 3.5 percent.
At Nakheel, net income in the year to December 31 rose to 4.69 billion dirhams, or 5.66 dirhams per share, compared with 1 billion dirhams, or 1.42 dirhams per share, in 2006, Nakheel said in a statement on Thursday on the website of the Dubai International Financial Exchange (DIFX). Nakheel lists about $1.7 billion of Islamic bonds, or sukuk, on the exchange. It mandated banks on Thursday to sell two-year dirham-denominated Islamic bonds.