DUBAI (Reuters) – Dubai’s Emaar Properties, the largest Arab real estate developer by market value, reported its first decline in profit in the third quarter in at least three years as expansion abroad drove up costs.
Net income in three months to Sept. 30 fell 2.8 percent to 1.56 billion dirhams ($424.8 million), the company said in a statement.
Analysts’ forecasts for third-quarter profit ranged from 1.55 billion dirhams to 1.75 billion dirhams, according to a Reuters survey last month.
Revenue rose 32 percent to 4.46 billion dirhams, Emaar said. Cost surged 67 percent to 2.79 billion dirhams.
Earnings per share in the first nine months of the year climbed to 0.79 dirhams from 0.76 dirhams in the year-earlier period, it said.