Sorouh Real Estate triples Q3 net profit

Abu Dhabi's Sorouh Real Estate more than tripled third-quarter net profit to 760.4 million dirhams ($207 million).

The company made 1.74 billion dirhams in the nine months ended September 30, compared with 773.47 million dirhams in the same period a year earlier, it said in a statement.

Sorouh made 216.91 million dirhams in the third quarter of 2007 and 977.62 million dirhams in the first half of this year.

Two analysts in a Reuters survey last month expected Sorouh to post profit of 131.63 million dirhams and 400 million dirhams.

The company said on Wednesday it expects its fourth-quarter net profit to be equally as strong to third-quarter profit, which more than tripled mainly on sales from its Shams project.

"The third-quarter growth in profits is purely from sales on the Shams project and our share of profits from our associated companies. There was also some other income, but that was not as big," Ala Khanak, chief financial officer of Sorouh told Reuters by telephone.

"We have performed very well up to third quarter and there is no reason to believe why we cannot achieve similar growth in the fourth-quarter profits. It also depends on how much we will be able to collect from sales at Shams project," he said. (Reuters)