Shuaa 2018 profit plunges 63%

Revenues for the last quarter of 2018 rose 40% to Dh60.1m, up from Dh42.8m

Shuaa Capital yesterday reported a net profit of Dh27.2 million, down 63 per cent compared to Dh74 million in 2017, according to the preliminary and unaudited results for 2018.

The company attributed lower profits to taking markto-market charges on its investments in the fourth quarter of 2018 and additional one-off provisions on legacy assets.

The fourth quarter brought about the biggest impact on earnings, reporting a loss of Dh29.2 million compared to profits of Dh14.2 million, while revenues for the last quarter of 2018 rose 40 per cent to Dh60.1 million, up from Dh42.8 million in the

corresponding quarter of 2017.

“While our profitability for the year was impacted by challenging market conditions at the end of last year, our core operations continued to grow and position Shuaa for the future. We expect the fruits of our diversification campaigns to come through properly over the coming months as we continue to grow our presence across the region,” said Fawad Tariq-Khan, Chief Executive Officer of Shuaa Capital.

As of December 31, 2018, Shuaa’s balance sheet and total assets were Dh2.1 billion compared to Dh1.2 billion in 2017.

The group’s liquidity position was strong with Dh441.4 million in cash. Liabilities increased to Dh1.2 billion from Dh325.4 million in 2017.

Turnaround strategy

“During the year we continued executing our turnaround strategy and completed acquisitions of Integrated Securities, Integrated Capital and Amwal Investments, adding cash flow generative businesses that have significant cross-sell opportunities and allowing us to distribute our first dividend in ten years. We also re-leveraged our balance sheet with favourable debt terms once we had repaid our legacy loans providing the Group with ample liquidity coming into 2019,” said TariqKhan.