RIYADH: Dubai’s Emaar Properties posted a 140 percent increase in first-quarter sales to 6 billion dirhams ($1.6 billion), founder Mohamed Alabbar told Al Arabiya on Thursday.
Alabbar expressed his optimism about the current year, which has seen the improvement after 2020 was marred by the coronavirus pandemic.
“The numbers are promising despite the difficulties that the hotel and malls sector still faces,” he said.
Emaar is focusing on markets such as India, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, in addition to Pakistan, he said.
“UAE and Dubai in particular are still a major center due to the promising growth in the emirate,” he said.
Emaar Properties income dropped 20 percent to 19.71 billion dirhams ($5.37 billion) in 2020, while net profit fell 58 percent to 2.62 billion dirhams.
Property sales amounted to 10.9 billion dirhams, of which 6.32 billion dirhams were in the UAE.
