Regional stock market indices
Regional currency rates
Emaar records $424m profits in Q2-2007
Dubai-based Emaar Properties, the largest Arab company for development and reconstruction, recorded a AED1.558bn ($424.2m) profit in Q2-2007. Figures came below experts’ expectations, which ranged between AED1.79bn ($487.4m) and AED1.98bn ($539m) and have increased 1.44% year on year. The revenue for the first half totalled AED8.07bn ($2.199bn) representing a 59% growth year on year mainly due to the sale of apartments and villas in Dubai. It is worth noting that Emaar Misr for Development, a wholly owned subsidiary of Emaar Properties, has launched the Cairo Gate project, the largest mall to be developed in Egypt, at the $700 million Cairo-Alexandria Desert Road project.
Dubai Financial Market profit reaches $204m
Dubai Financial Market Company, which exclusively operates the stock market of Dubai, released its financial results for the first half of 2007, recording a net profit of AED748m ($204m) for the period. AED468m ($127.4m) were generated by Initial Public Offerings and AED280m ($76.2m) were generated by operating activities. The press release showed a 95% increase of profits in the second quarter as a result of high trading values, which totalled AED83bn ($22.6bn) in Q2-2007 compared to AED43bn ($11.7bn) for Q1-2007. Furthermore, the shareholder’s equity increased by 9.4% and reached AED 8.75bn ($2.38bn).
S&P: Ratings for Saudi Arabia raised
Standard and Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P) revised this week the outlook for Saudi Arabia’s foreign and local currency long term sovereign credit ratings from ‘A+’ to ‘AA-’. S&P explained that the upgrade reflects the government’s balance between high oil revenues and its strong and rapidly improving external and fiscal positions. Ratings are likely to increase if regional geopolitical risks decrease and if measures that tackle social aspects such as unemployment were taken. S&P also upgraded the country’s local and foreign currency short-term ratings to ‘A-1+’ from ‘A-1’ and transfer and convertibility (T&C) assessment to ‘AA+’ from ‘AA’.
