Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways, which is edging closer to an investment in India's Jet Airways, yesterday said net profit tripled in 2012 as its fast-expanding global network attracted more passengers.
Etihad, which has stakes in Air Berlin and Virgin Australia, earned a net profit of $42mn in 2012, compared with $14mn in the previous year.
Revenue rose 17% in 2012 to $4.8bn from $4.1bn in 2011, the airline said in a statement.
The eight-year old carrier made its first profit in 2011.
Etihad Airways is close to taking a stake in India's Jet Airways the Abu Dhabi airline said yesterday after reporting a tripling in profits for last year.
Such a deal would support the Indian carrier's efforts to woo foreign investors to help cope with fierce competition and high costs in the Indian market.
"We are doing our due diligence (on Jet Airways) in the next week. We will present it to our board and take it from there," chief executive James Hogan said at a press conference.
The Jet Airways deal would be the first foreign investment into India's aviation industry since the government relaxed ownership rules in September last year.
This allows foreign airlines to buy up to 49% in the country's domestic carriers, many of which are facing stiff competition and high operating costs.
Etihad said it carried 10.3mn passengers last year, up 23% over 2011. The average seat factor was 78.2%, up 2.4% over 2011.
Equity and codeshare partners contributed to more than 1.2mn passengers tapping Etihad's network. The airline hedged 80% of fuel costs during the year, the same level as in 2011.
Aldar
Abu Dhabi's Aldar Properties posted a 31% rise in quarterly profit yesterday, buoyed by the completion of more government projects and lower provisions.
Aldar, Abu Dhabi's largest developer by market value, was hit by a real estate market collapse in the emirate and rescued with government aid of over $10bn. In return, it sold assets to the government including the Ferrari World Theme Park.
The company agreed a state-backed merger with rival Sorouh Real Estate last month to help them weather a downturn in which property prices have more than halved since 2008.
Aldar said fourth-quarter net profit was 239mn dirhams ($65.07mn) compared with 182.1mn dirhams last year.
Two analysts in a Reuters poll had forecast profit of 323mn dirhams and 572.5mn dirhams.
The government continues to support the firm by awarding state housing projects in the emirate. Aldar handed over 1,457 units at its Al Falah development last year, the largest state housing programme in Abu Dhabi.
Revenue for 2012 nearly doubled to 11.4bn dirhams from 6.7bn dirhams a year ago, driven by government housing projects, Aldar said in a statement on the Abu Dhabi bourse.
The developer booked 1.1bn dirhams in provisions for impairments, write-offs and fair value losses on investment properties in 2012, much less than the 3bn dirhams booked in 2011.
Net profit for 2012 doubled to 1.3bn dirhams from 642.5mn dirhams in the prior year period.
Aramex
Aramex plans to target more acquisitions in Asia and Africa, the logistics firm said yesterday, and reported a 15% rise in quarterly profits.
Dubai-based Aramex maintained a cautious outlook for the year due to ongoing unrest in the Middle East, its core market.
The firm said it made fourth-quarter net profit of 65.7mn dirhams ($17.9mn) for the three months to December 31, up from 57.2mn dirhams in the prior-year period.
Revenue rose 20% to 814mn dirhams, in the quarter, from 681mn dirhams in the prior-year period.
Quarterly profit was driven robust gains in its core Gulf Arab region market as well as Southeast Asia, Aramex said.
The courier company, a favourite of regional fund managers, was forced to suspend operations in Egypt during the Arab Spring uprising in 2011. It also operates in other unrest hit countries like Libya and Syria.
It has been expanding in the Middle East and Africa and bought South Africa's Berco Express as well as Kenya's Oneworld Courier and In-Time Couriers last year.
For the year, Aramex had profit of 244.1mn dirhams on revenues of 3.1bn dirhams, compared to profit of 211.5mn and sales of 2.6bn dirhams in 2011.
Shares of Aramex are already up 8.5% this year after posting gains of 11.11% in 2012.
Mashreq
Mashreq, Dubai's second-biggest bank by market value, posted a big jump in fourth-quarter net profit yesterday, as provisions dropped and the bank earned more fee income.
The lender made a net profit of 400mn dirhams ($108.9mn) in the final quarter of 2012, compared to 64mn dirhams in the prior-year period, according to a Reuters calculation based on the bank's full-year earnings statement.
Arqaam Capital forecast the bank would make a quarterly profit of 146mn dirhams.
Net profit for the full year stood at 1.37bn dirhams, up from 820mn dirhams in 2011, the statement said.
The profit increase between the two fourth quarters was aided by a 29.4% growth in operating income.
Over the full year, fee and commission income in 2012 was 20.8% higher than it was in 2011.
Impairments dropped to 826.5mn dirhams in 2012, down from the 1.2bn dirhams set aside for bad loans in 2011.
Loans and advances increased 9.9% over the course of 2012 to 41.4bn dirhams from 37.7bn dirhams at the end of 2011.
Mashreq proposed a cash dividend of 38%, subject to central bank and shareholders' approval, the statement added.
Dubai Islamic Bank
Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB), the largest Shariah-compliant lender in the emirate, posted a 33.9% rise in its fourth-quarter net profit yesterday, beating analysts' forecasts.
DIB made a net profit of 1.19bn dirhams in 2012, it said in a statement, a 13% increase on 2011.
The bank made 336mn dirhams ($91.5mn) in the three months to December 31, Reuters calculated based on previous financial statements, up from 251mn dirhams in the corresponding period last year.
Two analysts polled by Reuters expected a net profit of 148mn and 219mn dirhams respectively. "The bank saw healthy growth across a number of key areas, from our asset and deposit bases through to our net profit," Mohammed al-Shaibani, chairman of DIB, said.
© Gulf Times 2013
