Awas takeover nearly triples DAE profits

Company reports $95.9m in profit attributable to owners in third quarter

Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) said yesterday its net profit for the third quarter of 2018 nearly tripled year-on-year, following its acquisition of Awas, a jet leasing company based in Ireland.

DAE reported $95.9 million (Dh352.1 million) in profit attributable to owners during the quarter, up from the $32.1 million recorded in the same period in 2017.

The figure brings profits attributable to owners in the first nine months of 2018 to $290.7 million, more than tripling from the $78.8 million in the same nine months last year. Revenues for the first nine months of this year were also higher, jumping by 124 per cent to $1.97 billion.

The jump in earnings comes after DAE completed the acquisition of the Awas group of companies in August 2017, a deal that added over 200 aircraft to DAE’s fleet.

Fleet growth

The Dubai lessor said at the time that the deal would grow its fleet of owned, managed and committed aircraft to a value of more than $14 billion. Financial results from the acquisition were reflected in DAE’s earnings for the third quarter of 2018, the company said.

From an operational perspective, DAE currently has a fleet of 365 aircraft, with 109 customers around the world. In the third quarter of this year it purchased three new aircraft, and sold 13.