Dubai Travel Guide

Emaar Properties PSJC, the Middle East’s largest home builder, Thursday posted a fourth-quarter net loss of 1.77 billion United Arab Emirates dirhams ($482 million) because of a U.S. write-down, and the company put new projects in Dubai on hold amid a property slump in the emirate.

Before the write-down, fourth-quarter net profit was 924 million dirhams, compared with a profit of 1.74 billion dirhams a year earlier, the company said in an emailed statement to Zawya Dow Jones.

Full-year profit dropped 54% to 3.06 billion dirhams from 6.58 billion dirhams a year earlier. Revenue declined 10% to 16.02 billion dirhams, Emaar said.

Emaar wrote down 1.77 billion dirhams in goodwill in its John Laing Homes unit amid the financial crisis, and a further 919 million dirhams in properties owned by the company during the quarter. Emaar, which is about 30%-owned by Dubai’s ruling Maktoum family, bought John Laing Homes, one of the largest home builders in the U.S., for $1.05 billion in 2006 in an effort to diversify its business from Middle East real estate.
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Emaar Properties PJSC, the Dubai-based property developer that reported a fourth-quarter loss of $481 million, has put new real-estate projects on hold as it restricts the supply of new homes amid falling prices.

Emaar has “put new projects and launches on hold to assist in reducing the real estate property supply in Dubai,” the United Arab Emirates’ largest developer said yesterday. “The new launches in 2009 will be dependent on the review of the demand and supply situation at various income segment levels.”

The global credit crunch and a drop in real-estate prices in the country have led to job cuts, lowering demand for real estate as expatriates leave the country. The number of residents leaving Dubai leapt by 86 percent in January, the Dubai Naturalization and Residency Department said Feb. 10.
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A Nigerian firm, Sifax Group of Companies, is discussing with Dubai Ports Authority, on the establishment of a modern port complex in Lagos.

Managing Director of Sifax Group, Dr Taiwo Afolabi, told newsmen in Lagos that the Dubai authority had shown great enthusiasm in the proposed venture. Afolabi said the port would on completion, be the first direct response of an indigenous company to the Federal Government�s call for development of green fields, to decongest existing ports.

Afolabi expressed regrets that lack of space, slow cargo delivery and government’s inability to establish new ports were major causes of the present congestion at the ports.
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