Kuwait-based National Real Estate Company (NREC), a leading real estate developer with a major presence in the region, said its total operating revenue surged to KD14.02 million ($46 million) for the first half up 46.05 per cent over the same period last year.

Announcing the results for the six-month period ending June 31, 2018, NREC said the company’s ebitda stood at KD11.94 million, up 35.17 per cent, while net profit was KD 6.77 million and EPS 6.57 fils in H1 2018.

A leading player in the regional real estate sector, NREC manages over $2 billion in properties across Kuwait, UAE, Egypt and other markets in the Middle East and North Africa region.

On the solid performance, Vice Chairman and CEO Faisal Jamil Sultan Al Essa, said: "NREC's improved operational performance was supported by income from rents of properties owned in Kuwait, Jordan and Libya where security stability has improved."

"In addition to this, the continued sales of residential units in our developing mixed-use project in Egypt as well as positive earnings announced by our associates, also helped in boosting growth," noted Al Essa.

“Today, NREC maintains a healthy balance between its existing income-generating assets and upcoming developments that will in turn generate steady revenues in the coming years,” he added.

Al Esaa stated that with a positive operational performance, NREC has embarked on a bullish restructure plan to enable it to reduce its debt to below KD100 million besides improving its efficiency and grabbing new opportunities on the long term."

The company, he stated, had reduced debt by KD19.36 million at half-end and was expected to further strengthen its debt position by year-end after completing the conversion of its KD31 million convertible loan from its associate Agility Public Warehousing Company.

"On another hand, the adoption of IFRS standards resulted in a decrease in reported earnings,” he noted.

On its future strategy, Al Essa said: "NREC would be focusing in the coming period on decreasing debt and divesting some of its properties.

"Also key focus will be on maintaining promising assets under management and progressing as per schedule in the development of its two landmark projects, the Grand Heights in Egypt and Reem Mall in UAE," he added.-TradeArabia News Service