Tamweel, the Dubai-based sharia-compliant mortgage lender, made a fourth-quarter net profit of Dh31 million ($8.44 million) in 2011, the company said in a statement on Sunday.

The figure was close to a four-fold increase on the Dh8 million profit it recorded in the final three months of 2010.

The firm, in which Dubai Islamic Bank is the majority shareholder, posted a full-year net profit of Dh101.9 million, a 291.9 per cent rise from Dh26 million for 2010.

Income from Islamic financing and investing assets for 2011 was Dh559 million, up slightly from Dh553.2 million in 2010, the statement said.

Total assets at the company stood at Dh10 billion at the end of last year, a 2 percent fall from the Dh10.2 billion total in 2010.

DIB, the United Arab Emirates' third-largest bank by market value, raised its stake in Tamweel to 58.25 per cent in September 2010, effectively rendering the mortgage lender a subsidiary of the bank.

Tamweel and its rival Amlak ran into trouble after the collapse of Dubai's real estate sector in 2008.

Trading in the shares of both companies were halted, with Tamweel only resuming last May after a hiatus of more than two years. Amlak's shares remain suspended. 

Tamweel returned to the debt capital markets this year for the first time since its shares started trading again, printing a $300 million five-year Islamic bond, or sukuk, which was guaranteed by DIB.

Shares in Tamweel fell 1.1 per cent in trading on Sunday but are up 7.3 per cent since the beginning of the year. Earnings were released after the Dubai Financial Market had closed. – Reuters