#Dubai's DAMAC Properties lifts sales but first-quarter loss widens | Reuters

Dubai's DAMAC Properties lifts sales but first-quarter loss widens | Reuters

Dubai developer DAMAC Properties’ on Sunday posted a first-quarter net loss of 189.6 million dirhams ($51.6 million), widening from 106.1 million dirhams a year earlier despite a pick-up in sales.

The owner of the Middle East’s only Trump-branded golf course, located in Dubai, said this was mainly because it had yet to account for revenue from projects about to be completed.

Gross profit fell to 139 million dirhams from 312 million dirhams a year earlier.

“The compressed gross margins were due to revenue-mix and higher selling and general administration expenses resulting from higher booked sales reported during the quarter,” DAMAC said in a results presentation on its website.

Booked sales amounted to 1.1 billion dirhams in the first three months of the year against 733 million dirhams in the same period last year.

The COVID-19 pandemic has added pressure on the Dubai property sector, where supply has outpaced demand for new houses and apartments in a market where most of the population is foreigners.

Dubai’s economy is heavily reliant on sectors directly affected by the pandemic, such as tourism, transportation and retail shopping. Such sectors took a battering last year, though travel and tourism have rebounded in recent months as lockdowns and curfews have been lifted.

DAMAC’s bourse filing on Sunday said it had suffered a short-term hit from the COVID-19 pandemic but it expects to have adequate resources to continue to operate for the foreseeable future.