Saturday, March 17, 2007

Small investors pinched - by Emaar or by themselves?

Quote (my emphasis):
With many investors owing interest on their loans taken out to buy Emaar's shares, a rewarding cash dividend was their only hope. "About 20 to 60 per cent of any given portfolio is composed of Emaar, and the shares are mostly purchased through bank financing; hence this will result in pressuring the share price in the short term, as some investors might seek partial liquidation to settle the banks' dues,” said Nabil Farhat, managing director of Al Fajr Securities.
...
The property firm's annual general meeting descended into chaos after chairman Mohammad Al Abbar told shareholders they would only receive 20 per cent of the share’s par value of Dh1 as dividend for 2006, down from a cash dividend of 40 fils a share in 2005.
...
Al Abbar said the company thinks it is more important to invest in the long-term future of the company. "I criticise most of the companies in other Arab countries, because they only work for today," he said, adding that Emaar needs to have adequate capital to seize opportunities in countries such as India.
Matein Khalid provides an excellent take on the GCC stock markets.

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1 Comments:

Blogger sharewadi said...

Al Abbar is right, and Emaar shouldn't be paying any dividend while they are a growth company. And why are people buying shares in a volatile emerging market with borrowed money? Emaar's biggest problem is (like most UAE listed companies) communication and disclosure. The Emaar - Dubai Holding deal announced in March 2007 is a typical example.

Here's more reading and comments about Emaar 2006 profits and dividends.

11:50 AM  

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