Waha Capital, a leading investment company in Abu Dhabi, has announced a net profit of AED231 million ($63 million) in 2020, compared to a loss of AED616 million ($168 million) in 2019.

Announcing the audited financial results for 2020, Waha Capital said that its consolidated operating income too surged to AED662.2 million from AED4.8 million the year before.

During the third quarter, Waha Capital made an investment of $50 million in Despegar.com, a leading NYSE-listed company in the online travel sector in Latin America.

The general and admin expenses were reduced by 15.8% to AED 217 million against AED258 million in 2019, while the total assets stood AED 8.9 billion against AED9.3 billion in 2019.

On the solid results, Chairman Waleed Al Mokarrab Al Muhairi said: "It is a testament to the robustness of Waha Capital’s governance and risk management processes that the company was able to navigate the past year, with all its challenges, so successfully. That we were also able to accomplish a change of leadership so seamlessly in the third quarter says much for the effective overall management of the business."

"The positive results we saw in 2020 are rooted in the implementation of a turnaround strategy that demonstrated commendable determination and resilience, such as going ahead with a number of ground-breaking investments and launching a new fund," he added.

CEO Ahmed Khalifa Al Mehairi said: "The story of our performance in 2020 portrays the success of both verticals of the business - Public Markets and Private Investments - in pressing ahead with their strategies for the year despite the high volatility brought about by the pandemic."

"On the investment side in particular our teams were able to generate excess returns ahead of industry benchmarks while taking advantage of attractive valuations that brought short term gains as well as ones likely to crystallise into longer term value for our investors. Our portfolio of private investments continued to implement turnaround strategies leading to a positive contribution from this business in 2020," he stated.

Waha Capital’s two flagship funds significantly outperformed industry benchmarks, despite market turbulence as a result of the ongoing pandemic, he added.-TradeArabia News Service