Amanat posts Dh24 million profit

dubai — Amanat Holdings recorded a net profit of Dh24.3 million for the first 9 months of 2018 compared to Dh39.87 million for the same period last year, a drop of 64 per cent, due to a surge in operating expenses and decline in revenues.

The company slipped into the red in the third quarter of 2018, posting a Dh3.57 million loss as against a Dh14.92 million profit for the same period last year.

Its third-quarter revenues nearly halved from Dh22 million to Dh11.5 million, while nine-month revenues fell from Dh52 million to Dh37.2 million.

Amanat’s nine-month operating expenses jumped from Dh33.28 million to Dh48 million, while third-quarter operating expenses more than doubled from Dh11.8 million to Dh25.9 million.

The drop in profits pushed the company’s shares lower on Wednesday, dropping 2.6 per cent to Dh1.12.

The company said its recent acquisition of Middlesex University Dubai is a profitable and flourishing business, generating in excess of Dh130 million in revenue and a profit margin of around 25 per cent a year. Income from existing associates grew to Dh37.1 million, an increase of 58 per cent year-on-year.

“Given revenue recognition policy, the summer season that falls in the third quarter is typically slow and typically unwinds during the fourth quarter, as such revenues will return to normalised levels in the fall academic semester which coincides with the fourth quarter of 2018. This has resulted in Amanat consolidating the Middlesex Dubai losses in its Q3 2018 financials as a one-off,” it said in a statement on Wednesday.

Its shareholder equity stood at Dh2.53 billion as at September 30, 2018 demonstrating the early positive impact of the accelerated capital deployment over the past year. Furthermore, Amanat’s corporate expenses remained stable year-on-year, despite the considerable growth in the business and deployment.

Hamad Abdulla Al Shamsi, chairman of Amanat, said: “Amanat has continued to pursue active approach whether be in its deployment or in value creation during the third quarter of 2018 in an aim to achieve growth and sustainable value to its shareholders. With majority stakes acquired in two exceptional education and healthcare assets during the quarter, we have now achieved capital deployment of 79 per cent of the total Dh2.5 billion paid-up capital, representing significant progress in its strategy to acquire leading assets and work alongside their leadership teams to create longterm sustainable value.

Dr Shamsheer Vayalil, vicechairman and managing director of Amanat, said the firm continued to make excellent progress in the third quarter, accelerating its deployment whilst continuing to identify assets which offer great opportunities to create value for shareholders.

Amanat has continued to pursue active approach whether be in its deployment or in value creation

Hamad Abdulla Al Shamsi, Chairman of Amanat