(The Group’s Comments) UDC’s Net Profit Drops to QR 225 million for the First Half of 2019

July 24, 2019

·         Profits: United Development Company’s (UDC) profits dropped by 13.75% to QAR 224.6 million for the first half of 2019, compared to QAR 260.4 million for the same period last year, while the company’s earnings per share amounted to QAR 0.063 versus QAR 0.074 for the corresponding half of 2018. It should be noted that UDC posted a second quarter profit of QAR 49 million, compared to QAR 46 million for the same period of 2018.

·         Operating Profits: amounted to QAR 289.5 million in this first half, compared to QAR 344.4 million for the same first half of 2018, a decline of 16%, due to the following reasons:

-        Operating Costs climbed by 12% to QAR 52.7 million, while the company’s revenues (the company managed to maintain occupancy levels) increased by QAR 23.7 million or 2.7%, which negatively impacted the overall profit.

-        Other Operating Income dropped by QAR 41.2 million or 58% (no explanation was provided).

-        The first half of 2018 witnessed Non-Operating Profits that amounted to QAR 4.5 million related to the sale of financial investments.

-        Administrative & General Expenses increased by QAR 5.7 million as a result of employees' end of service provision, which amounted to QAR 10 million.

-        On the other hand, Financing Costs dropped by approximately QAR 10 million, and the company made investment profits of QAR 1.2 million compared to a loss of QAR 30 million, in addition to the increase of the company's share of the profits of associates by QAR 4 million.