The UAE has been evolving through a challenging macroeconomic environment in recent years, resulting from a sustained period of low oil prices that impacted the wider GCC. This trend slowed economic growth, but Dubai’s diversified economy put it in a position to weather headwinds and its outlook remains stable. The emirate is expected to experience a robust level of short-term growth, due partly to economic diversity, but also to continued infrastructure development towards the much-feted Expo 2020.
Much like Dubai’s, ENBD REIT’s strategy is to invest in a diversified portfolio of properties that will deliver robust income to shareholders. With the principal objective of providing investors with a regular and stable source of income by way of semi-annual dividends, our next key priority is to achieve long-term capital appreciation on the value of our holdings.
This means that when it comes to the property portfolio, management are focused on achieving diversification to mitigate risk and maximise potential returns. Our investment strategy focuses on high quality properties in three asset classes: office, residential and alternative. As at June 2019, 64% of our property portfolio value was in offices, 18% in residential and 18% in alternative.
We want to boost up the share of the alternative segment – which is why we are actively exploring opportunities to acquire healthcare, education, logistics and industrial assets. In the current climate, these asset classes are proving highly resilient to valuation headwinds, with the added benefit of carrying long-term leases that safeguard income generation. Acquisitions in the alternative portfolio will mitigate our exposure to market risk and boost our income profile. With some exciting targets already in play, watch this space...
