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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