ÿþ<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <title>Eqarat.com Newsletter</title> <style type="text/css"> <!-- a:link { color: #095AA5; } a:visited { color: #095AA5; } a:hover { color: #4DAC27; } a:active { color: #095AA5; } --> </style> <link href="eqnews.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"> </head> <body> <P>&nbsp;</P> <table width="650" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" bgcolor="#CCCCCC"> <tr> <td><table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td height="130" valign="bottom" bgcolor="#095AA5"><table width="100%" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td height="80" class="20pxpad"><img src="http://www.eqarat.com/newsletter1/images/meren2.gif" width="390" height="64"></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="25" bgcolor="#4DAC27" class="linetopwht"><table width="610" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td><img src="http://www.eqarat.com/newsletter1/images/worthy.gif" width="217" height="17" border="0" usemap="#MapMap"></td> <td width="175"><div align="right" class="whtfont"> <div align="center">Issue No 257 - 19 Feb 2008 </div> </div></td> </tr> </table></td> </tr> </table></td> </tr> <tr> <td bgcolor="#FFFFFF">&nbsp;</td> </tr> <tr> <td bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><table width="610" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="Copyfont"> <tr> <td width="180" valign="top"><img src="http://www.eqarat.com/newsletter1/images/257omniyat_big.jpg" width="180" height="134" class="blackborder"></td> <td width="20" valign="top">&nbsp;</td> <td valign="top"><SPAN class=hdngBlck>Omniyat boosts Dubai property portfolio to $6bn </SPAN><BR> <p>Omniyat Properties said it will quadruple the value of its Dubai property portfolio to Dh21 billion ($6 billion) in 2008, following an excellent year that saw its sales double.</p> <p>One of the region's most innovative property development company, Omniyat Properties, also saw its profits triple in 2007 when compared to the previous year. </p> <p>"In addition to the Dh5.5 billion we have already launched in the last two years, we will be bringing to the market another Dh15 billion worth of real estate and that's just in Dubai," said Mehdi Amjad, president and CEO of Omniyat Holdings.</p> <p>He was speaking at a press conference to announce the company's annual results for 2007 and its plans for 2008.</p> <p>He said the group's flagship company Omniyat Properties had achieved sales of just over Dh3 billion last year when compared to Dh1.5 billion ($408 million) in its debut year in 2006.</p> <p>He also said Omniyat's profits tripled in 2007 when compared to the previous year but did not disclose the company s profits value.</p> <p>"We are a privately held company and we are not obliged to reveal our figures, but I can tell you that our shareholders are very happy with the tripling of the profits," Amjad said. </p> <p>He noted that even though Omniyat launched substantially less projects in 2007 than its debut year, it managed to achieve far better financial results. "This was due to the nature of the two projects we launched last year, which were more sophisticated and more valuable than our previous five projects that were launched in 2006," he explained.</p> <p>Amjad noted that Omniyat Properties sales performance was excellent in 2007, with the company almost completely selling out all office, retail and residential space in the projects that it has so far launched. Most of the remaining space, including parking unsold spaces, will be retained by Omniyat for future investment plans which are being finalized right now, he said. </p> <p>Amjad attributed the company's successes in 2007 to its customers deep appreciation of Omniyat s promise and trust in its products. </p> <p>"Most of the customers who have invested in our projects have already made an excellent return on their investment in one way or the other, which is very important for Omniyat as it is one of its key promises to investors," he noted. </p> <p>Amjad said the company was busy building a land bank for future development, and would soon announce locations of the plots of lands in Dubai. </p> <p>"We've bought a few plots of land in prime localities of Dubai, with almost 6 million square feet of development area at a total cost of more than Dh2.2 billion," he said. </p> <p>He said this year the company plans to enter new markets such as Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.</p> <br> Source: Trade Arabia News</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top">&nbsp;</td> <td valign="top">&nbsp;</td> <td valign="top">&nbsp;</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top">&nbsp;</td> <td valign="top">&nbsp;</td> <td valign="top"><P align=justify><FONT color=#333333><A href="http://www.eqarat.com/newsletter1/Forward2.jsp?id=1&iid=257"><strong>Forward this article</strong></A></FONT></P></td> </tr> </table></td> </tr> <tr> <td bgcolor="#FFFFFF" class="linebtmblck">&nbsp;</td> </tr> <tr> <td bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1"> <tr> <td height="90"><div align="center"><a href="http://www.eqarat.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.eqarat.com/newsletter1/images/eqarat-web.gif" width="154" height="62" border="0"></a></div></td> <td width="20" valign="bottom" class="Copyfont"><P align=left><br> <BR> </P></td> <td valign="bottom" class="Copyfont"><p><span class="smallfont"><br> </span> <strong>Eqarat.com REAL ESTATE, PO Box: 7553, Dubai, UAE <br> Tel: +971 4 3242224 Fax +971 4 3242221</strong><br> <strong><a href="http://www.eqarat.com">www.eqarat.com</a></strong> <br> <br> </p></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="200" bgcolor="#4DAC27">&nbsp;</td> <td bgcolor="#095AA5"><div align="left"><img src="http://www.eqarat.com/newsletter1/images/gate.gif" width="20" height="20"></div></td> <td bgcolor="#095AA5">&nbsp;</td> </tr> </table></td> </tr> </table></td> </tr> </table> <p>&nbsp;</p> </body> </html>