Emaar Properties will keep to its policy of not booking profits through the revaluation of assets, the chairman of the Arab world's largest developer said on Saturday.

"We have a conservative accounting system and we don't book profits by revaluating assets. That has been our style for all the previous years," Mohamed Alabbar told Al Arabiya television at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Alabbar, who also heads a crisis committee set up by the Dubai government to respond to the global financial crisis, also said he would stick to a policy of conservative dividend payouts to shareholders.

Emaar would continue its work in the emirate, Alabbar said, but was taking into account a subdued property sector.

"We continue with our work in Dubai but of course we are taking into consideration the changes on the ground and the lull in the real estate sector, be it for six months, or a year, or a year and a half," he said.

Last week Alabbar told Al-Khaleej newspaper property prices in Dubai could fall about 20 per cent on average, without giving a timeframe.


Source: Trade Arabia News