Ezdan Holding Group Achieves Record Profits Amounting to QR1.66 Billion in 2015

Doha, February 16 (QNA) - Ezdan Holding Group has disclosed its annual financial statement for the year ended December 31st, revealing a net profit that exceeded QR1.66 billion, with a record growth reaching 22%, compared to 2014. According a press release by the Ezdan Holding Group, the Group's Share recorded a remarkable hike during 2015, where the Earnings per Share (EPS) reached QR0.63 versus QR0.51 for the same period of the previous year. This is due to the success of the Groups investments and operational performance growth in-line with the expansion in the development process of all current projects. Chaired by HE Sheikh Dr. Khalid bin Thani bin Abdullah Al-Thani, the Board of Directors convened to analyze and discuss the Group's annual performance for the year 2015, and recommended distributing cash dividends of QR0.50 per share to shareholders, an increase of 25% compared to last year. Commenting on the Group's 2015 financial results, Chairman of Ezdan Holding Group, HE Sheikh Dr. Khalid bin Thani bin Abdullah Al-Thani, said that the Group's achievements have exceeded all expectations despite global repercussions caused by the drop in oil prices, which has massively influenced a wide range of vital sectors in the region, including the financial markets. He added that Ezdan's success in gaining such earnings reflects the efficiency of its pre-emptive studies of the investment status quo set for the year, taking into consideration market statistics, profits of losses factors. The Group was able to come up with solutions that avoided the impact of economic recession. Such solutions involved taking well-studied strategic decisions in regards of distributing Group shares in sister companies, pumping up investments in financial markets. The Group is keen to moving forward with its diversified investment plan to mitigate risks as per the Groups plan in order to increase profits, enhance the financial performance, and contribute in supporting the national economy. CEO of Ezdan Holding Group, Ali Al-Obaidli said that this steady continuity and persistence in achieving record financial results in 2015 was due to a number of important factors that the Group has efficiently applied. Such factors include the Groups success in executing its operational performance enhancement plan in all its projects, through carrying out a wide-range of improvement operations on its existing assets and re-assessing them. Additionally, the Group extended the scope of its operations within Qatar, which resulted in the increase of its assets to QR46.9 billion, compared to QR43.4 billion in the same period last year. Al Obaidli continued by saying that the Groups cash flow from operating projects has scored an unprecedented rise this year, thanks to preparing the Group with the right conditions to help spike the operational earnings up. Al Obaidli went on to explain that 2015 was an exceptional year for the Group in regards to the stock market as well noting that Ezdan's share has witnessed a great demand after being included in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. Moreover, the Group has been on the lead in the Qatar Stock Exchange, as far as real estate traded shares are concerned, as it acquired up to 49.6% of traded shares during 2015. Al Obaidli added that the Group is currently considering other opportunities throughout 2016 in parallel with its intent to finalize and launch under construction projects in the malls sector. He went on to express his confidence that the Group's operational profits will continue to grow during the current year, despite the challenges that the markets are facing. Ezdan Holding Groups investments spread over seven vital business sectors, namely, real estate, Takaful insurance, banking, financial services, food security, media, health, and industry. Furthermore, the Group's operating profits have made QR1.9 billion compared to QR1.6 billion in the previous year, which is an increase of 19%. These numbers were achieved thanks to the cash flows provided from leasing and operating real estate assets, as well as the other projects in diverse sectors. (QNA)