Waha Capital had astounding news this past January when it reported its net profit had jumped in 2014 from Dh 306.4 million in 2013 to Dh 1.73 billion at the end of 2014. For those counting, that’s a 465% jump in net profit. The firm’s record annual profits came mostly from reaping the dividends of its holdings in the New York airline leasing company AerCap. These massive gains have made the company far more viable and have given it new opportunities to provide more to its shareholders and do more for investment in the coming future.
As a result of the major capital gains the company has decided to give its shareholders a cash dividend of 25 fils per share; this is a 100% increase over the 2013 dividends. This change is highly applauded by analysts and has given a tremendous boost in confidence for the management of Waha Capital. One of the leading board members Hussain Al Nowais spoke about how it was rare but great for Waha Capital to have a 51% return on equity. Hussain Al Nowais has led the charge on increasing investment in the UAE and has an interesting bio.
As a part of restructuring the company, they are now in the midst of a buyback program which was launched in September. As of January they had bought back 30.2 million shares and say the plan will end on October 19th. Waha is looking to use these new resources to temporarily increase its investments in healthcare, energy, and education projects. As Hussain Al Nowais’ bio shows, he has helped with the investment of various other projects in the UAE that have led to hundreds of UAE entrepreneurs receiving the needed education and support to improve the local economy of the UAE.
Waha Capital plans to expand its energy investments throughout the Middle East and North Africa and has invested Dh 274 million in the Dubai-based oil and gas company, National Petroleum Services. That has given them a 20.15% stake in the company. The growing customer base of Waha Capital and their smart investments in certain sectors bolds well for their 2015 ROI for the year.