MANAMA: Shareholders of First Bahrain Real Estate Development Company will get dividend of 5 per cent of paid-up capital for 2020.
The announcement follows annual and extraordinary meetings of shareholders where they acknowledged the $2.7 million net profit reported by the company for last year as a “significant feat despite the limitations of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Operating in Bahrain since 2007, First Bahrain owns or holds rights to more than 1,000,000sqft of land in the kingdom and a diversified portfolio of income-generating properties.
The company’s latest projects are the El Balcón Mall and Jarir Bookstore in the seafront area opposite City Centre Bahrain.
Reviewing 2020, chairman Waleed Alkhaja announced: “We delivered the El Balcón Mall, which began operations in December with the opening of its anchor, Starbucks, with 24/7 drive-thru service. Construction progress on the adjacent Jarir Bookstore reached 64pc at year-end as we look towards delivery of this built-to-suit property in the coming months. The combined occupancy of the two projects has reached 70pc.”
Key among other projects are El Mercado Village, a mixed-use development featuring an integrated neighbourhood market adjacent to 42 stand-alone and semi-detached homes.
First Bahrain chief executive Omar Al Temiemy said six additional home sales in the project further supported the company’s cash position.
“Restaurants and other services at El Mercado Mall had a difficult time because of the restrictions related to the pandemic; however, proving the value of our diversification strategy, our industrial properties buoyed our results as these tenants were not impacted as severely by the crisis,” he added.
First Bahrain is also the parent of Majaal Warehouse Company, a developer and operator of industrial facilities for SMEs.
Majaal’s properties at the Bahrain Investment Wharf in Hidd consist of seven buildings offering over 400,000sq.ft of leasable space.
Talking about the balance sheet, Mr Al Temiemy said the value of total equity of the company increased by 3.2pc last year to $79.3m.
The balance sheet growth reflected both the gains in the cash position and the 8.3pc increase in the value of investment properties to $92.2m including the El Balcón Mall and Jarir Bookstore and increasing the value of total assets by 8.6pc to $109.8m.
During the EGM meeting, the shareholders elected to amend the articles of association to remove any minimum amount or timing for dividend distributions.
“Looking forward, we continue to pursue our goal of converting all our assets into active generators of revenue for the shareholders. The company will continue exploring cash exits from existing income generating properties to create liquidity for further expansion and dividends,” added Mr Al Temiemy.
avinash@gdn.com.bh
&uuid=(email))