Tijariah achieves profit of KD 223,623 for Q1 2012

07/05/2012 09:05 AST

Abdulfattah Marafie, Chairman and Managing Director of the Commercial Real Estate Company (Tijariah) has announced in a press release on Sunday the results of the company during the first quarter (Q1) of 2012 and said that Tijariah has made a net profit of 223,623 Kuwaiti dinars with earnings per share (EPS) for the period amounting to 0.13 Kuwaiti fils. He added that the shareholders equity reached KD 252 million, with a growth of 3.16 percent from the same period of 2011.

Marafie added that the ordinary General Assembly of the Commercial Real Estate Company for 2011, which met on18.4.2012 approved of distributing a cash dividend of five percent of the nominal value of the share. With the approval of this latest batch of dividends, Tijariah will have distributed a total of KD 236.8 million ($852 million US dollars) in dividends during the period from 2002 to the end of 2011, while retained profits, including reserves amount to KD 70 million ($252 million), giving the company one of the best dividend distribution records among all other companies at the local level.

Despite the financial crisis, the disastrous impact of which affected all countries of the world, Commercial Real Estate Company maintained its steady record of achieving growing returns for its shareholders. The healthy stability of the company's performance is attributable to the far-sighted policies and strategies adopted by the Board of Directors since 2002, based on strict adherence to an attitude of conservatism, prudent risk assessment and management and avoiding highly fluctuating and potentially unsafe markets, in addition to its ethical commitment toward its shareholders and society. Indeed, this attitude has been instrumental in protecting the shareholders' equity.

In addition to the distributions mentioned above, the Company's achievements extended to other fields, including its ability to reduce and re-schedule debts thereby underlining the company's strong financial position and the high value of its assets which earned it the confidence of financing organizations which seek to minimize risk by financing only the most stable companies. With the completion of the company's major projects, this year and subsequent years will witness a remarkable growth in our operating revenues which will only serve to increase our shareholders' equity.

Finally, the credit classification society, Capital Standards has given Commercial Real Estate Company KCSC a credit classification of 'BBB+' and a regional classification of 'A+kw' with a stable outlook. Capital Standards' announcement attributed this classification to a number of factors including the strength and soundness of the Company's position in the Kuwaiti market as a major real estate dealer and developer, making it a key player in the local investment and commercial real estate development market, despite the continuing difficult market conditions.

Al Watan