Waha Capital said first-quarter profit rose 23 per cent on strong performance of the company’s asset management division and a gain on disposal of shares in US-listed aircraft lessor AerCap Holdings.
The investment firm which counts Mubadala Investment Company as a shareholder, said net profit for the three months ending March 31, rose to Dh107 million from the year earlier period, according to a regulatory filing with the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, where its shares are listed.
Total income for the quarter increased 18.9 per cent year-on-year to Dh316.2m, largely due to a rise in income by Waha Capital’s Mena Equity and CEEMEA Fixed Income Fund and an increase in assets under management.
"The first quarter results show the strength of our business, with our asset management division providing robust growth, to compliment a steady performance by our principal investments portfolio," said Salem Al Noaimi, chairman of Waha Capital.
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Total expenses decreased 5.3 per cent to Dh160m in the quarter, Waha Capital said, and it detailed a one-off Dh25m gain from the sale of 3.77m shares in Aercap. Waha Capital retains a 15.68 per cent stake in the world’s largest aircraft leasing firm.
The company approved a 17.5 per cent cash dividend of Dh321.7m, or Dh0.175 per share, at its annual general meeting on March 25.
In the last year, Waha Capital has diversified its assets, and the company is actively pursuing further investment opportunities, Mr Al Noaimi said.
“Meanwhile, we continue to steadily increase fee income by attracting third-party investors to our actively managed funds, which have consistently outperformed their benchmarks,” he added.
The firm’s Waha Mena Equity Fund recorded a 10.8 per cent return in the first quarter and the Waha CEEMEA Fixed Income Fund registered a return of 4.1 per cent.
Waha Capital’s total assets rose to Dh11.53 billion at the end of the first quarter from Dh11.35bn at the end of last year.
Retirement funds heavily invested in equities at a risky time
Pension funds in growing economies in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East have a sharply higher percentage of assets parked in stocks, just at a time when trade tensions threaten to derail markets.
Retirement money managers in 14 geographies now allocate 40 per cent of their assets to equities, an 8 percentage-point climb over the past five years, according to a Mercer survey released last week that canvassed government, corporate and mandatory pension funds with almost $5 trillion in assets under management. That compares with about 25 per cent for pension funds in Europe.
The escalating trade spat between the US and China has heightened fears that stocks are ripe for a downturn. With tensions mounting and outcomes driven more by politics than economics, the S&P 500 Index will be on course for a “full-scale bear market” without Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts, Citigroup’s global macro strategy team said earlier this week.
The increased allocation to equities by growth-market pension funds has come at the expense of fixed-income investments, which declined 11 percentage points over the five years, according to the survey.
Hong Kong funds have the highest exposure to equities at 66 per cent, although that’s been relatively stable over the period. Japan’s equity allocation jumped 13 percentage points while South Korea’s increased 8 percentage points.
The money managers are also directing a higher portion of their funds to assets outside of their home countries. On average, foreign stocks now account for 49 per cent of respondents’ equity investments, 4 percentage points higher than five years ago, while foreign fixed-income exposure climbed 7 percentage points to 23 per cent. Funds in Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan are among those seeking greater diversification in stocks and fixed income.
• Bloomberg
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The specs
Engine: Direct injection 4-cylinder 1.4-litre
Power: 150hp
Torque: 250Nm
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
The specs
Engine: 77.4kW all-wheel-drive dual motor
Power: 320bhp
Torque: 605Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh219,000
On sale: Now
