Remal officially enlisted in KSE

Wednesday,05 January 2011 Jameel W. Karaki
KUWAIT: Mohamed Ali A. Al-Nassar, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Kuwait Remal Real Estate stated that the company has been transformed from a family business to a listed company in the Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) with a paid up capital of 20 million Kuwaiti dinars pointing out that the major business activity of the company is developing, managing, operating, investing, and renting commercial and mixed use real estate projects in and outside Kuwait. This statement was given to reporters Monday during a press conference held at the KSE announcing the enlistment of the company.


As for the price of the shares, he noted that it will be determined as per the market supply and demand.

He went on to say, "The company managed to have a seven million Kuwaiti dinar investment in property purchase and sale which reflected positively on the fiscal results of the company notching profits amounting to KD 1.98 million."

Meanwhile, a day later on Tuesday, Remal's shares closed at 275 Kuwait fils with a deterioration of 25 fils. Al-Naser explained that drop in the share price was due to skimming profits which was done by small investors pointing out that many of them are compensating their loses by doing so, indicating that whoever bought shares in Remal has achieved not less than 50 percent profits.

He confirmed that owners own about 60 percent of shares while 30 to 35 percent of shares are available in the market. He indicated that the company has a clear strategy for the year 2014; which is investing and developing Kuwait infrastructure before exiting. The company has already achieved KD 9.5 million in the first nine months of the fiscal year 2010.

He added, "The company offered consultancies and market studies for the project in the United States which were performed in cooperation with the foreign partners who own shares in the project."

Concerning the company's achievements in 2010, Al-Nassar said, "We sold a property portfolio of our share in our US complex with a price amounting to KD 16 million achieving a profit of a KD 7.6 million" adding that during 2010, the company purchased properties amounting to KD 52.8 million in Salmiya, Mahboola, and Qubla areas.

Al-Nassar finally pointed that the company is planning to invest in Egypt and Eastern European markets with a number of projects that will be announced accordingly. These estimated investments exceed 200 million US dollars.

On his part Ali Saleh Al-Rasheedi, Vice Chairman stated that Remal could get loans from banks when they were cautious about granting loans to companies. He highlighted the fact that during the crisis Kuwait didn't face a liquidity shortage but suffered from a lack of trust between banks and companies.