Global Investment House (Global) held a special seminar today at the Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) on listing Tijara & Real Estate Company (Tijara) scheduled to commence on Monday September 26th, 2005.
Attending the seminar were, from Tijara Mr. Khaled Abdulla Al-Bisher, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Mr. Tareq Fareed Al-Othman , the vice-president , and from Global Mr. Omar M. El-Quqa, Executive Vice President, and Mr. Mohamed Abdul Aziz, Financial Analyst, where they gave a detailed explanation of Tijara’s operations and financial data.
At the beginning, Mr. El-Quqa spoke briefly about the company history and the nature of its work, then he addressed Global’s role in listing Tijara at KSE, which comes at market upsurge period.
“The listing of the company coincides with the high activity that the market witnesses, either from the increase of the size of the current shares or, the rise of value,” he said
He applauded the listings of many companies at the stock exchange lately and considered it “a healthy economic phenomenon, on condition they are studied and controlled by market laws and regulations.”
From his side, the Mr. Al-Bisher expressed his thanks to Global’s efforts for the completion of Tijara listing in KSE, and hoped that it will added value to the spectrum of listed companies.
Then he spoke about the company history saying, “Tijara and Real Estate Company was founded in Kuwait in 1983 with the aim to buy, sell, develop, and build real estates.”
“In spite of difficulties in 1999, the company managed to overcome this critical period,” he added. “The first step taken by some of the board members was appointing a new executive management which on their behalf restructured the company’s capital and implemented a unique strategy from the years 2000 to 2004, and successfully distributing dividends from 2001 to 2004.”
Furthermore, Mr. Al Bisher had introduced the board members of the company which are headed by Sheikh Ali Abduallah Al Khalifa Al Sabah as well as its executive management.
From his side, Mr. Al Othman pointed that the company’s projects are being undertaken carefully to successfully improve its operating performance.
Mr. Al Othman mentioned some of the Tijara's local projects. He started with a brief about Al Shuhada project, which consists of a network of residential and service units constructed upon an area of 372,477 sqm with a cost of KD 55 million. He also presented Al Zain residential commercial complex located in Al Jabriya area.
Perhaps the most distinguished project in terms of scheme, vision and location is The Mermaid project located in Mahboula area, which Mr. Al Othman described as “The first in Kuwait and the Middle East.”
“The project will consist of two floor villa with an area of 350 sqm, each over looking its own garden and swimming pool. What makes this project as unique as it is is the ability to access the villas through a private parking elevator that allows each tenant to park his car in front of his door.”
Then Mr. Abdel Aziz talked about the company’s financial performance for the end of year 2004 and the first half of 2005, pointing the continuous growth of the company’s assets in the first half of 2005 which reach KD61.9 million with a percentage growth rate of 13.6% in 2004 compared to it in 2003. Tijara’s equity recorded KD 46.8 million as of the first half of 2005
In regards to the company’s profitability, Mr. Abdel Aziz added that Tijara recorded a percentage growth of 16.2% in the net income for the year 2004 compared to 2003. Furthermore, the company’s net income recorded KD3.8 million and as of the first half of 2005 with an EPS of 8 fils.
Finally Mr. Abdel Aziz highlighted some of the important financial ratios of Tijara as the company’s ROA in 2004 was 13% compared to 2003 of 10%, ROE in 2004 recorded 11% compared to 2003 of 9% . The company’s book value in 2004 was 121 fils with a growth of 5% compared to the book value in 2003 which was 115 fils knowing that the current book value as of the first half of 2005 recorded 122 fils reflecting the growth trend in the companies financial performance.
