Dubai's Nakheel back to profit
Nakheel, the Dubai property development company and builder of artificial islands of the United Arab Emirates coast, has reported a climb in profit.
Their profit climbed 57% as buyers have re-emerged in the sheikhdom’s long-troubled real estate market.
Nakheel’s revenue rose 36% to 4.23 billion dirhams, according to Arabianbusiness.com. Its net income rose to 1.2 billion dirhams ($360million) from 767 million dirhams a year earlier.
Nakheel anticipates generating $1 billion from new projects and sale of land.
The state-owned property group was bailed out by the Dubai government in 2009 after the GFC belatedly hit Dubai causing a severe crash in the property market.
Nakheel was then headed by Chris O’Donnell, the Australian who was its chief executive for five years.
After his GFC-induced dismissal he won a $3.7 million legal battle after filing a breach of contract lawsuit with the Dubai World Tribunal against his former company.
O’Donnell had hit the headlines during the property boom in the UAE given he oversaw the major projects including The World and Palm Jumeriah.
The World that is about 300 islands formed together to look like the world from the air, created off the coast of Dubai.
Palm Jumeirah was launched in 2001 as one man-made island in the shape of its palm tree cultural icon.
Since last September, O’Donnell has been president of Nakheel rival property developer, Al Futtaim Real Estate Group (Afreg) whose major property is the Dubai Festival City.
Afreg is the property development and operations arm of Al Futtaim Group which was established in the 1930s initially as a trading company.
Al Futtaim is structured into operational divisions including automotive, engineering, electronics and technology, retail, financial services, education, real estate and construction.
Al Futtaim operates across the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Syria, Pakistan, Singapore, Malaysia and Europe.
Before heading to Dubai, O’Donnell had held the managing director position at Investa Property Group.