Deyaar Development Third-Quarter Net Rises on Sales

By Matthew Brown

Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Deyaar Development PJSC, the Dubai- based real estate company whose former chief executive officer is being investigated for fraud, said third-quarter profit rose 56 percent as it sold more properties.

Net income increased to 311.9 million dirhams ($84.9 million), or 0.213 fils per share, from 200.2 million dirhams, or 0.137 fils, a year earlier, Deyaar said today in a statement posted on the Dubai bourse Web site.

Deyaar's shares have fallen 31 percent in the last six months after the arrest of former chief executive Zack Shahin. He will stand trial this month on charges of embezzlement, six months after being detained, Shahin's lawyer Ali Shamsi told Bloomberg on Sept. 28.

``Results for the third quarter have again exceeded expectations,'' Deyaar Chairman Nasser Bin Hassan Al-Shaikh said in the statement. The company is ``well poised'' to deliver increased earnings, he said.

Revenue surged almost five-fold to 1.01 billion dirhams from 214.9 million dirhams a year earlier.

Deyaar is a unit of Dubai Islamic Bank, the largest bank in the United Arab Emirates complying with Muslim banking rules. Deyaar, Dubai Islamic and Islamic mortgage company Tamweel PJSC all have former senior employees under investigation by the Dubai government for corruption.

To contact the reporters on this story: Matthew Brown in Dubai at mbrown42@bloomberg.net