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DAE H1 net income slips to $121.7m

Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE), the Middle East's biggest plane lessor, reported on Wednesday that its 2020 first-half net income dropped 38 per cent to $121.7 million as against the same 2019 period.
The company's total revenue also dipped year-on-year to $672.6 million from $735.2 million in the first six months of 2020.
The Dubai-based aircraft lessor posted a total liquidity of $2.82 billion, including $600 million in unrestricted cash and $2.2 billion in long-term committed available lines of credit. For 2019, DAE posted a total revenue of $1.421 billion and a profit before tax of $413.6 million.
Firoz Tarapore, CEO of DAE, said that the results for the first half were characterised by excellent and abundant liquidity, strengthening balance sheet and lower reported profitability.
"The reported net income in H1 2020 was lower attributable primarily to 23 fewer aircraft in the Owned Aircraft portfolio, fewer asset sales resulting in lower gains on sale of assets, reduced finance income, and higher provisions for trade receivables offset by lower interest expense," said Tarapore.
He said the lessor had provided meaningful rent deferral solutions that created value for both our clients and DAE. "As of July 31, 2020, we have granted rent deferral requests from 34 airlines totaling aggregate rent of approximately 16 per cent of annual reported revenue. We are currently evaluating rent deferral requests from an additional 24 airlines totaling aggregate rent of approximately 13 per cent of annual reported revenue. We expect to provide additional assistance to our clients and we also expect arrears to climb," said the CEO.
During the first half of the year, DAE repurchased $187 million of its bonds and has $229 million of remaining repurchase authorization, said Tarapore.
In the first quarter, DAE posted a 22.5 per cent drop in profit to $76.7 million, compared to $99 million, in the same period last year. First quarter revenue fell 4.4 per cent to $344.2 million.
DAE's owned, managed and mandated-to-manage fleet stayed stable at 400 plus aircraft in first six months while the firm sold 17 aircraft, acquired five aircraft, transitioned or extended leases on 23 aircraft, and negotiated 41 lease extensions subject to documentation.
"Since the onset of the pandemic, we have transitioned 11 aircraft with 18 ferry flights to and from 9 countries. Portfolio lease utilization remained high and is above 99 per cent. The managed aircraft portfolio grew to 73 aircraft," a DAE said in July.
issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com