Shuaa Capital, a premier financial services company in the UAE, has registered a net profit of Dh74 million ($20.1 million) for the financial year 2017 compared to a loss of Dh132.5 million ($36 million) the previous year, thus witnessing a 156 per cent upward movement.

Announcing its highest sustained full-year earnings since 2007, Shuaa said Fourth quarter results saw a notable emergence from a loss of Dh18.9 million in Q4 2016, rising to a profit of Dh14.2 million for Q4 2017.

Revenues for the last quarter of 2017 were Dh42.8 million, up 22 per cent on Q4 2016 revenues level of Dh35.1 million. In the midst of a challenging year for regional markets, and under the guidance of a strategy built on strong fundamentals, all five business lines attained optimal performance levels and maintained healthy revenue streams, said the statement from the UAE company.

The Asset Management division which manages equities, fixed income and real estate projects through a set of funds in both Saudi Arabia and the UAE, continued its strong performance and increased profitability by 105 per cent to Dh17 million.

The division delivered its second centrally located project during the year, the Centro Waha hotel in Riyadh. This division continued working on a set of other key and strategically located projects such as the prominent Wadi Al Hada mixed-use complex, and others, some of which may launch during 2018.

In September, Shuaa unveiled the ‘Dubawi’ real estate project, the up and coming new landmark on Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai, it stated.

The group's investment banking division handled a set of important mandates during the year, including lead manager and underwriter for Dar Al Takaful Rights Issue, co-lead manager for the $105 million initial public offering of ENBD REIT and advisor to Bahrain’s Shari’ah compliant Khaleeji Commercial Bank’s secondary listing on the Dubai Financial Market.

According to Shuaa, the investment banking enters 2018 with a healthy pipeline including the reverse merger of Reem Investments and Eshraq, as well as IPOs of Etihad REIT and other entities seeking to list in the UAE.

In Capital Markets, Shuaa aggressively expanded its role as Market Maker and Liquidity Provider for cash equities and futures contracts for issuer companies on Nasdaq Dubai, and was also awarded licenses to act as Liquidity Provider by the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange and the Dubai Financial Market.

Today, it dominates the market share for derivatives in the UAE and will be expanding across the region.

Jassim Alseddiqi, the chairman of Shuaa Capital, said: "At Shuaa Capital, we are proud of the company’s legacy and are committed to its future. We certainly had our work cut out for us in 2017; from re-building the company’s foundation, to executing a new sector-specific strategy and optimizing divisional and human asset performance, the achievements of 2017 are solid proof that our new roadmap has put us on the path for long-term growth."

Fawad Tariq Khan, the chief executive officer of Shuaa Capital, said: "From the onset, we’ve acknowledged the magnitude of the task ahead of us for turning the company around and positioning it for sustained profitability."

"These results demonstrate that the key measures we took made sense given Shuaa’s strong heritage as a financial investment bank, even as we implemented them against the backdrop of the region’s ongoing highly volatile situation," he stated.

"The results were outstanding, as we witnessed the regional markets responding very well to each of our five business lines. I am confident that the new long-term strategy, blended with the superb task-force we have assembled over the past 12 months, will serve the new and improved Shuaa Capital well," observed Khan.

""Looking ahead, we will remain focused on our drive towards dominating the financial services space in the Middle East and North Africa," he added.-TradeArabia News Service