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00:00 Well, thank you very much. I think the first thing is, first of
00:05 all, the quality of the assets that we have in the Preserve, because we have in
00:10 our Preserve very important real estate assets, 11 of which are offices, offices
00:21 markets, offices buildings. This market was very good in the UAE
00:28 and the last year's estimates. In addition to that, we are proud of the
00:32 team of work and the management of the assets, and the team that means managing
00:37 the assets. I wish a suitable strategic last year to improve the performance of all
00:42 categories of assets in our Preserves, and this is due to the numbers that were
00:47 recorded and you mentioned. Good. In addition to the revision of
00:53 expenses, how did it recover? What is the mechanism that you followed in that?
00:58 Not all expenses were down. I mean, the operating expenses in general have
01:09 decreased, and just to mention that, the cost of financing has increased.
01:14 And as you know, we are dealing today with a high interest rate environment,
01:21 and therefore, we are affected by what is happening.
01:24 So, the high interest rates affect financing, and therefore, this cost was
01:30 high. But as for the operating expenses,
01:35 we try as much as possible to make efforts to reduce it as much as possible,
01:43 and the main goal is to be able to generate the largest percentage of profits for
01:50 the operating assets. According to your statement, Mr. Teereef,
01:55 one of the reasons is the unfulfilled earnings from the revaluation of the
02:01 investment bonds for the past year. We are talking about $133 million
02:08 compared to about $79 million in the previous financial year, 2022.
02:14 Explain to us that. Yes, the valuation games result from
02:22 very positive cash flow. So, we increased the cash flow,
02:27 the positive cash flow. We increased the operating budget in
02:31 the reserve, and we also increased the rentals.
02:35 So, overall, it is a rise in the rentals and the lease of the
02:42 most popular places led to a rise in the rentals,
02:48 which led to higher valuations. In addition to that, we have saved a
02:53 large number of rentals at low prices during COVID, and these rentals will
03:00 soon be worth it, and when we return to the negotiations, we will rent them at
03:06 higher prices. These higher prices, in turn,
03:09 will lead to higher valuations. In all this, how do you view the real estate
03:16 sector in the region? The real estate sector, particularly in
03:24 the UAE, is a very strong sector, and it is still strong this year.
03:32 But this depends on the class of assets. If we take the class of assets from the
03:38 UAE, we will have a new asset in the coming years.
03:42 The asset is limited, so there is a lot of pressure on the operating budget.
03:47 The operating budget has reached 7.5% in the real estate sector in Dubai,
03:53 which is a very low budget, and as a result of that, the low operating
03:59 budget, the rentals will rise. In the residential sector, it is a
04:04 very strong sector, and we have a lot of demand for it.
04:10 The real estate sector was excellent in 2022 in terms of numbers, but we have
04:16 a drop in the number of assets. In the future, we will have more of the
04:21 new housing projects. But in the UAE, we do not have a focus
04:27 on the real estate sector. We have a focus on the housing sector,
04:33 but we do not focus on the housing sector, but on offices, commercial
04:37 and educational buildings.
04:38 Good. So, according to that, is there a specific strategy that you will
04:43 implement in the next phase? Or will you continue to follow the same
04:48 path?
04:49 We will continue to optimize the performance of all the class of assets
05:00 that we have in our reserves. But the big focus in 2024 for us will
05:06 be on reducing the cost of financing, that is, the cost of debt, and we will
05:11 also reduce what we call in English FTV, that is, the cost of financing,
05:18 and the number of loans that we will reduce and lower its value as much as
05:24 possible in 2024, so that we can leave a positive impact on profits and generate
05:31 the largest number of cash distributions to bear the shares.
05:37 Terry Delve is the CEO of Equotiva, which owns the Amalet Street fund.
05:42 Thank you very much. You were with us first and exclusively on CNBC Arabic.