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Morocco Property: Potential for Double Digit Annual Growth
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The giant real estate company Solidere on Monday said that its net profit for 2008 reached $214.3 million, an increase of 18 percent compared to 2007. "We have recorded a total pretax profit of $214.3 million or $182.7 million after deducting income tax which reached $31.6 million," the company said in a statement.
The company added that the total size of the liquidity at the end of 2008 stood at $292 million, noting that Solidere is still preserving a very high liquidity that will enable it to finance most of the development projects in Beirut Central District.
It added that Solidere was able to attract investments over the past few months.
Solidere signed $294 million worth of investments in the past six months and is still negotiating with other investors who are keen to buy more properties.
It stressed that the company has $731 million worth of contracts that have been signed earlier and not yet collected.
"This cash will turn into profits for the next three years once the conditions of the contracts are met," the statement said.
It added that Solidere International, which focuses its operation outside Lebanon, has cash liquidity close to $350 million at the end of 2008.
The statement said Solidere International did not mass any debts or losses despite the global credit squeeze which hit many real estate companies.
Solidere announced that it plans to complete the southern part of Beirut commercial souk which will be officially opened in the last semester of 2009.
It added that many of the 250 shops in the souk intend to open in June of this year.
The company will also continue building the northern part of the souk which will feature movie theaters, an theme park and grand store. This project is expected to boost the revenues of the company especially from the rents of shops.
Solidere added that values of its shares on Beirut Stock Exchange are expected to rise once these projects are completed.
Soliere A and B shares closed at $23.80 and $23.67 respectively on Monday***s trading on the BSE.
Investors in general say that the outcome of the parliamentary elections in Lebanon has apparently relaxed the market.
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