Al-Khater and al-Othman: Impressive results.

Strong residential properties sales and leasing revenues at The Pearl-Qatar and the successful launch of Medina Centrale as well as cost optimisation and performance improvement strategies helped United Development Company (UDC) report a 6% jump in net profit to QR595.09mn in the first nine months of this year.
The impressive results are attributed to the ongoing growth of business at The Pearl-Qatar this year, where UDC rolled out several high-quality residential units and commercial leasing initiatives, particularly Medina Central and Porto Arabia, UDC chairman Turki al-Khater said.
Revealing that UDC will soon be offering for sale residential plots at The Pearl-Qatar, which enhances the company’s prominent position in the real estate market; he said, “The potential progress in our activities will lead to affirmative growth for the remainder of this year and we are looking forward to continuing this trend for our clients and shareholders.”
Operating income rose 2% to QR675.26mn mainly on the back of about five-fold jump in other income to QR156.51mn, 29% in dividend income to QR20.25mn and 14% decline in general and administrative expenses to QR277.13mn.
Net finance costs were also brought down by 22% to QR73.89mn; even as net share of results of associates fell 13% to QR18.52mn.
“We are confident our strategic plans will continue to enhance the variety of UDC’s business activities and to keep up the momentum for growth in the fourth quarter of the year, particularly as we stress cost optimisation and focus on our core business,” according to Ibrahim Jassim al-Othman, president and chief executive of UDC.
The group’s yielding assets confirm the success of UDC’s strategy of diversifying and developing its investments in the Pearl Qatar project, he added.
During the third quarter of the year, UDC restructured the organisation and its subsidiaries in a way to improve performance and cost optimisation.
Total assets were valued at QR19.04bn, comprising current assets of QR5.25bn and non-current assets of QR13.79bn.
Total equity stood at QR11.27bn on a capital base of QR3.54bn and earnings-per-share was QR1.68 at the end of September 30, 2015.