Dubai Investments said its consolidated total income soared 29 per cent to Dh4.41 billion ($1.2 billion) for the year ended December 31, 2008, when compared to Dh3.41 billion ($928 million) in 2007.

Announcing the results, the company said its net profit for the year was Dh1.56 billion, up 4 per cent from Dh1.5 billion for the previous year.

DI’s profit for the year from its core business activities increased to Dh1.12 billion from Dh925 million for the previous year, representing a growth of 21 per cent.

However, DI’s results for the year were impacted due to significant write-downs of Dh368 million, owing to mark-to-market requirements in its investment portfolio of shares, bonds and structured products.

In spite of this, DI managed to post an overall increase of 4 per cent in net profit for the year. DI has adopted a strategy of maintaining high liquidity with strong cash flows generated from its business activities.

The total assets were put at Dh14.11 billion up 38 per cent from Dh10.2 billion in 2007. The net worth was Dh7.23 billion, posting a growth of 46 per cent over the last year's net worth of Dh4.96 billion.

This was achieved due to substantial net profits realized and increase in share capital on rights issue. The return on average net worth achieved for the year is 26 per cent and return on average Share Capital is 58 per cent.

The earnings per share (EPS) for the year is Dh0.48, while the return on average Assets achieved for the year is 13 per cent.

“Dubai Investments achieved its best ever annual results in spite of extremely challenging economic and financial conditions,” said Khalid Bin Kalban, managing director and CEO of Dubai Investments.

“The fundamentals of our business remain strong due to the diversified investment base, and we are well placed to take advantage of potential opportunities in the coming months due to our strong liquidity position,” he added.-TradeArabia News Service