Union Properties 2011 net loss widens; shares slump

Union Properties 2011 net loss widens; shares slump

Full-year net loss 1.57 bln dirhams vs 1.53 bln dirhams; Q4 net loss 68 million dirhams - Reuters calculation; Shares drop 8 pct after results

February 2, 2012 12:55 by Reuters

Union Properties, Dubai’s struggling real estate developer, on Thursday said its full-year net loss widened as property values continue to drop in the emirate.

The company, which recently transferred a major portion of its assets to a local bank, said 2011 net loss widened to 1.57 billion dirhams ($426.90 million) from 1.53 billion dirhams a year-ago.

Union Properties made a fourth-quarter net loss of 68 million dirhams, compared with 779 million dirhams loss a year-ago, according to Reuters calculations based on nine-month earnings. The company recorded a loss of 1.5 billion dirhams in the nine-month period ending in September.

Revenue for the full year increased to 4.9 billion dirhams compared with 2.9 billion dirhams in the same period in 2010, the company said in a statement to the Dubai bourse. Fourth quarter figures were not provided.

Like many real estate firms in Dubai, Union Properties has been hit by the slump in the emirate’s property sector which has seen prices fall by more than half and large numbers of projects cancelled or put on hold.

The developer reached a 3.8 billion dirhams debt deal earlier this month with major shareholder Emirates NBD , where the company would transfer assets worth 1.1 billion dirhams to the bank.

Union Properties’ third-quarter net loss more than doubled as it booked additional provisions amid a sharp drop in asset valuations.

In June, the company said it would repay 2 billion dirhams in 2011 and was in the process of renegotiating terms on its other obligations to extend the tenor.

Share of the firm were down 8 percent on the Dubai bourse at 0720 GMT. ($1 = 3.6730 UAE dirhams) (Reporting by Praveen Menon; Editing by Dinesh Nair)