Emaar Malls’ first-half earnings show importance of digital as Namshi revenue surges 57%

More online shopping and “exponential growth” in the Saudi market pushed Namshi’s half-yearly revenue to 664 million dirhams ($181 million), up 57% compared to the same period last year.

Namshi’s first-half 2020 revenue has already surpassed 50% of its 2019 takings of 1.028 billion dirhams.

The GCC-focused e-commerce platform retailing clothes, shoes and bags, was fully acquired by Dubai developer Emaar Malls in February 2019 from Global Fashion Group.

Its parent company, Emaar Malls, didn’t perform as well overall.

The retail arm of Emaar Properties on Tuesday (August 11) reported a first-half revenue of 1.657 billion dirhams ($451 million), down 25.59% compared to 2.227 billion dirhams ($606 million) for the same period last year.

Emaar Malls’ first-half 2020 net profit reached 345 million dirhams ($94 million), compared to 1.13 billion dirhams ($308 million) for the same six months last year. This is equivalent to a decline of 69.47%.

The company was hit by COVID-19 pandemic restrictions in the UAE that saw Dubai in lockdown from March 25 to April 27. It extended support to its mall tenants in the form of a “flexible rent Relief Policy” that included a tiered-base rent waiver, it said.

Occupancy across its retail real estate assets, including The Dubai Mall and Dubai Marina Mall, was 92%, it said.

Mohamed Alabbar, the chairperson of Emaar Properties said Emaar Malls’ first-half performance “showed strength and resilience in the face of challenges”.

“Our continuous innovation, diversification of our portfolio and investment in digital to bring our destinations to life in new channels added further strength to our results,” he said.

In a presentation in April this year, Emaar said it would leverage the Namshi platform to offer retailers “market extension opportunities” within UAE and across the GCC.

Emaar Malls in 2019 contributed to 18% of Emaar Properties’ overall revenue of 24.586 billion dirhams.  

© SalaamGateway.com 2020 All Rights Reserved