WEBVTT 00:00:00.009 --> 00:00:05.809 Thriving. We are buoyant is this peak Maid Alpha 00:00:05.820 --> 00:00:08.060 Tame. So the year is off to a good 00:00:08.069 --> 00:00:12.000 start. The year witnessed 5% growth on revenues despite 00:00:12.009 --> 00:00:16.109 currency devaluations in several markets where we operate more pleasing 00:00:16.120 --> 00:00:18.839 is the fact that our profitability is growing ahead of 00:00:18.850 --> 00:00:20.839 our revenues in line with our commitment to put the 00:00:20.850 --> 00:00:24.089 company on a sustainable and profitable growth path. You 00:00:24.100 --> 00:00:27.500 would see EBI growing by 13%. We've actually expanded 00:00:27.510 --> 00:00:30.679 our ebid margin by a good 2% points. Profitability 00:00:30.690 --> 00:00:33.889 has almost doubled and that's thanks to the great efforts 00:00:33.899 --> 00:00:37.389 by everyone at measure and indeed a buoyant economy in 00:00:37.399 --> 00:00:40.329 our home market of the U. You talk about 00:00:40.340 --> 00:00:43.408 margin expansion. Part of that narrative is cost cuts 00:00:43.418 --> 00:00:45.728 . You did over 100 job cuts earlier in the 00:00:45.740 --> 00:00:47.658 year. I understand. Have you done any other 00:00:47.668 --> 00:00:50.728 significant job cuts since those over 100 that you announced 00:00:50.740 --> 00:00:53.289 earlier this year. Profitability boost is driven by multiple 00:00:53.298 --> 00:00:57.130 factors. One is a reallocation of capital towards more 00:00:57.139 --> 00:01:00.069 profitable and higher margin segments. For instance, our 00:01:00.079 --> 00:01:03.810 residential business has posted record results. In fact, 00:01:03.819 --> 00:01:07.159 our total property business has delivered another set of record 00:01:07.168 --> 00:01:11.370 results with 40% growth in revenues and 22% growth in 00:01:11.379 --> 00:01:15.079 Ida. And part of it is naturally operational efficiency 00:01:15.088 --> 00:01:18.918 and financial discipline. Indeed. Yes. Let's tempt 00:01:18.930 --> 00:01:21.138 everybody's appetite this morning for breakfast. They are sitting 00:01:21.150 --> 00:01:23.010 in their villas on the palm, they're sitting in 00:01:23.019 --> 00:01:23.849 Prime Dubai. They want to know whether you can 00:01:23.859 --> 00:01:26.459 eke out more price rises in prime. You're in 00:01:26.469 --> 00:01:30.689 Prime Dubai residential, aren't you? So your view 00:01:30.019 --> 00:01:33.000 , I mean, all of our businesses are prime 00:01:33.010 --> 00:01:34.349 . I think they are. But I want to 00:01:34.359 --> 00:01:36.930 talk about residential. Let's focus on that. Residential 00:01:36.939 --> 00:01:38.439 is a thriving sector. Indeed in Dubai. When 00:01:38.448 --> 00:01:42.308 you look at pricing today in the Dubai market, 00:01:42.319 --> 00:01:44.540 if you compare it to the previous peak in 2014 00:01:44.549 --> 00:01:48.790 , 2015, we're still nominally below that peak without 00:01:48.799 --> 00:01:53.290 adjusting for price inflation or construction costs, inflation, 00:01:53.409 --> 00:01:56.359 we see amend growth in tourism. We see tremendous 00:01:56.370 --> 00:01:59.510 growth in new residents coming to Dubai, more and 00:01:59.519 --> 00:02:01.159 more people calling Dubai home. So from the demand 00:02:01.168 --> 00:02:04.510 side, we see robust demand across the segment for 00:02:04.519 --> 00:02:07.099 residential products. You still get your hands on development 00:02:07.110 --> 00:02:09.069 opportunities within the residential. Don't worry, I'll come 00:02:09.080 --> 00:02:10.580 back to the miles in a moment. Don't worry 00:02:10.588 --> 00:02:13.088 yourself. I'll get back to the miles and the 00:02:13.099 --> 00:02:15.270 penguins, but I got to finish off on housing 00:02:15.278 --> 00:02:16.300 . First of all, do you have enough supply 00:02:16.639 --> 00:02:19.849 to meet your ambitions? Well, first of all 00:02:19.860 --> 00:02:21.520 , our current project, the LA LA is a 00:02:21.528 --> 00:02:23.808 significant size project. It's a$4 billion project. 00:02:23.819 --> 00:02:25.490 So there is still plenty of room to grow with 00:02:25.500 --> 00:02:28.719 what we have. We do have Land bank in 00:02:28.729 --> 00:02:30.460 Dubai that we intend to activate and will be launching 00:02:30.469 --> 00:02:35.169 new projects soon. Much what size I think by 00:02:35.179 --> 00:02:36.338 the end of the year, we'll probably be in 00:02:36.349 --> 00:02:38.558 a position to make an announcement. And as a 00:02:38.569 --> 00:02:40.379 long term developer, obviously, we are a developer 00:02:40.389 --> 00:02:45.368 that invests through cycles, not with cycles. Let's 00:02:45.379 --> 00:02:46.899 go back to the malls. I'm still waiting for 00:02:46.909 --> 00:02:49.659 my interview, you know, at at Ma of 00:02:49.669 --> 00:02:51.580 the Emirates with the Penguins. I expect you to 00:02:51.588 --> 00:02:53.028 do that at some stage with me. Um I 00:02:53.038 --> 00:02:55.460 love Ma of the Emirates. I think everybody does 00:02:55.469 --> 00:02:58.308 . Are you raising the rents? Well, Ma 00:02:58.319 --> 00:03:00.399 of the Emirates is indeed one of the most loved 00:03:00.808 --> 00:03:05.360 shopping destinations by customers and our tenants. So you 00:03:05.368 --> 00:03:07.349 would see across the portfolio and particularly all of their 00:03:07.550 --> 00:03:09.819 footfall is up, 12%. Almost tenant sales are 00:03:09.830 --> 00:03:13.389 significantly up. And I can tell you both footfall 00:03:13.399 --> 00:03:15.659 and tenant sales are growing a lot faster than our 00:03:15.669 --> 00:03:19.949 revenue growth from rent. Meaning that you are able 00:03:19.960 --> 00:03:22.419 to raise the rents. Actually, I mean, 00:03:22.429 --> 00:03:24.838 the more successful retailers are the more of that some 00:03:24.849 --> 00:03:27.588 of that flows back to the landlord, any big 00:03:27.599 --> 00:03:29.479 new international names coming in. I mean, I 00:03:29.528 --> 00:03:30.901 did other malls as well. You know, we've 00:03:30.912 --> 00:03:32.122 got to be sort of a broad church. I 00:03:32.132 --> 00:03:35.151 do go to the other mall as Well, any 00:03:35.162 --> 00:03:37.442 other big names coming in? Are you seeing more 00:03:37.453 --> 00:03:39.203 international names sitting down and talking, getting ready to 00:03:39.211 --> 00:03:42.252 open with you? I mean the market in Dubai 00:03:42.263 --> 00:03:45.092 is very well represented as it is in terms of 00:03:45.102 --> 00:03:47.612 large international brands. What we see here is a 00:03:47.622 --> 00:03:50.741 lot of the international brands, especially on the luxury 00:03:50.752 --> 00:03:53.651 front are expanding sometimes doubling their store sizes, turning 00:03:53.662 --> 00:03:57.162 their existing stores and you see that for instance, 00:03:57.173 --> 00:03:59.165 in one of them is turning them into global flagship 00:03:59.175 --> 00:04:02.246 stores with double story stores, the largest stores in 00:04:02.254 --> 00:04:04.564 the world, etcetera, which goes to show the 00:04:04.575 --> 00:04:08.175 strength of the Dubai market, not just in terms 00:04:08.186 --> 00:04:10.504 of resident demand, but also as a global gateway 00:04:10.515 --> 00:04:13.235 city for shopping and entertainment. Can we talk a 00:04:13.246 --> 00:04:15.526 little bit about Saudi? Because part of the narrative 00:04:15.534 --> 00:04:17.644 is beyond Dubai. Why I understand that you've paused 00:04:17.656 --> 00:04:20.526 one of your projects in Saudi. Why? So 00:04:20.536 --> 00:04:25.615 we have a big portfolio of businesses in multiple countries 00:04:25.625 --> 00:04:29.819 . We are continuously re evaluating that portfolio of investments 00:04:29.829 --> 00:04:31.778 with the lens of creating sustainable long term growth. 00:04:31.790 --> 00:04:34.309 So while we post some investments, we continue to 00:04:34.319 --> 00:04:36.278 invest in Saudi, what caused the pause? Is 00:04:36.290 --> 00:04:39.040 it a lack of belief in Saudi or a family 00:04:39.048 --> 00:04:43.858 division? Neither we continue I think to benefit from 00:04:43.869 --> 00:04:46.108 tremendous support from our shareholders. And we continue to 00:04:46.119 --> 00:04:48.514 believe in the Saudi story and we continue to invest 00:04:48.644 --> 00:04:50.764 in Saudi. Our retail business continues to grow. 00:04:50.774 --> 00:04:54.423 Our cinema business continues to grow. We have almost 00:04:54.434 --> 00:04:57.634 more than 4000 colleagues working in Saudi. So it's 00:04:57.644 --> 00:04:59.725 a matter of bringing the right product at the right 00:04:59.733 --> 00:05:01.423 time in the market for measure. What does Saudi 00:05:01.434 --> 00:05:03.264 need more of that you want to give them? 00:05:03.944 --> 00:05:06.324 What's the next leg in Saudi as it were for 00:05:06.334 --> 00:05:10.605 you? So across the board, we see plenty 00:05:10.613 --> 00:05:13.673 of growth opportunities in Saudi in retail, we continue 00:05:13.684 --> 00:05:17.149 to see opportunity for physical retail expansion, digital demand 00:05:17.160 --> 00:05:20.389 for our Omni channel offers continues to be quite robust 00:05:20.399 --> 00:05:25.670 . Entertainment is firing on all cylinders and our offer 00:05:25.678 --> 00:05:28.949 of cinemas and family entertainment continues to be well received 00:05:28.959 --> 00:05:30.588 . We continue to see significant demand for facility and 00:05:30.600 --> 00:05:33.449 energy management and we continue to fulfill that through our 00:05:33.459 --> 00:05:38.488 innova business really across the board. Saudi is a 00:05:38.500 --> 00:05:41.509 thriving opportunity. When you look at the retail division 00:05:41.519 --> 00:05:43.838 , you talk about currency devaluations. When you sat 00:05:43.850 --> 00:05:44.649 down and said, where is that? Is that 00:05:44.660 --> 00:05:46.579 mostly Egypt? Is it mostly Egypt devaluation? Are 00:05:46.588 --> 00:05:49.639 you preparing for a further? Some people are saying 00:05:49.649 --> 00:05:54.059 a further 10 15 20% evaluation in Egypt. Are 00:05:54.069 --> 00:05:56.139 you preparing for that? The retail business is our 00:05:56.149 --> 00:05:59.149 most geographically diversified business and hence the most exposed to 00:05:59.160 --> 00:06:01.980 currency. We did have currency hits from Egypt, 00:06:01.988 --> 00:06:05.199 Kenya, Pakistan and other markets, which meant that 00:06:05.209 --> 00:06:08.403 nominally, we have seen a decline in that business 00:06:08.415 --> 00:06:10.613 but in constant currency, we have seen some healthy 00:06:10.625 --> 00:06:13.244 growth. Egypt for us remains a core market. 00:06:13.254 --> 00:06:15.125 We are about to celebrate our 20 year anniversary in 00:06:15.134 --> 00:06:16.795 the country. We've just launched a new retail format 00:06:16.803 --> 00:06:18.403 . We have opened a couple of more stores of 00:06:18.415 --> 00:06:23.095 that retail format. So, and we continue to 00:06:23.105 --> 00:06:25.524 be, I would say long term long on the 00:06:25.535 --> 00:06:26.184 Egyptian market.