Waha Capital Announces Full Year Profits for 2020

• Net profit of AED 231 million, compared to a loss of AED 616 million in 2019
• Market leading performance by Asset Management business
• Private Investment portfolio returned to profit

ABU DHABI, 11th February 2021 – Waha Capital PJSC, a leading investment company in Abu Dhabi (ADX: WAHA), has today announced its audited financial results for 2020.

Despite the volatile economic conditions throughout the year Waha Capital achieved a net profit of AED 231.0 million in 2020, against a loss of AED 616.3 million reported in 2019. Consolidated operating income amounted to AED 662.2 million, compared to AED 4.8 million the year before.

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

FY 2020

• Net Operating Income of AED 662m (against AED 5m in 2019)
• Net profit (attributable to owners of the company) of AED 231.0 million (compared to a loss of AED 616.3m in 2019)
• Total general and admin expenses reduced by 15.8% to AED 217m (AED 258m in 2019)
• Total Assets of AED 8.9 billion (AED 9.3billion in 2019)
• Asset Management reported a profit of AED 321.4m (AED 391.2m in 2019)
  • CEEMEA Credit Fund returned 14.9% (15.5% in 2019)
  • MENA Equity Fund returned 14.3% (19.7% in 2019)
• Private Individend of AED 0.06 per share (nil in 2019) equivalent vestments reported a profit of AED 40.2m (against a loss of AED 835.4m in 2019)
• Assets under Management increased 4% to AED 3.4 billion (AED 3.3 billion in 2019)
• Proposed dividend of AED 0.06 per share (nil in 2019) equivalent to 48% of profit

4Q 2020

• Net Operating Income of AED 333.4m (loss of AED 72.7 m in 2019)
• Net profit (attributable to owners of the company) of AED 172.5 million (loss of AED 229m in 2019)
• Asset Management reported a profit of AED 186.5m (AED 59.8m in 2019)
• Private Investments reported a profit of AED 23.8m (loss of AED 217.1m in 2019)

ASSET MANAGEMENT HIGHLIGHTS

Waha Capital’s two flagship funds significantly outperformed industry benchmarks, despite market turbulence as a result of the ongoing pandemic.

The Waha CEEMEA Credit Fund SP achieved a return of 14.9% in 2020, representing 235% growth since launch in 2012. Waha MENA Equity Fund SP generated a total return of 14.3% in 2020, achieving a cumulative increase of 226% in value since its inception in 2014.

The Public Markets business overall generated a net income of AED 321.4 million in 2020, against AED 391.2 million in 2019, continuing the trend of market leading annual investment returns over the past 9 years. The CEEMEA Credit Fund, the company’s long/short credit strategy that invests in emerging markets, was named Best Fixed Income/Credit/Distressed Hedge Fund for 2020 by the European Hedge Fund Review.

A new fund - the Waha Islamic Income Fund SP - was launched in July to cater to a growing demand from investors for Sharia compliant instruments.

PRIVATE INVESTMENTS HIGHLIGHTS

The Private Investments business, representing a portfolio across several sectors including healthcare, industrial real estate, financial services and fintech, energy, infrastructure and most recently, travel, returned to profit in 2020. The division reported net profits of AED 40.2 million (compared to a loss of AED 835.4 million in 2019).

In the third quarter Waha Capital made an investment of $50 million in Despegar.com, a leading NYSE-listed company in the online travel sector in Latin America.

H.E. Waleed Al Mokarrab Al Muhairi, Chairman of Waha Capital, said: “It is a testament to the robustness of Waha Capital’s governance and risk management processes that the company was able to navigate the past year, with all its challenges, so successfully. That we were also able to accomplish a change of leadership so seamlessly in the third quarter says much for the effective overall management of the business. The positive results we saw in 2020 are rooted in the implementation of a turnaround strategy that demonstrated commendable determination and resilience, such as going ahead with a number of ground-breaking investments and launching a new fund.”

Ahmed Khalifa Al Mehairi, Chief Executive Officer of Waha Capital added: “The story of our performance in 2020 portrays the success of both verticals of the business - Public Markets and Private Investments - in pressing ahead with their strategies for the year despite the high volatility brought about by the pandemic. On the investment side in particular our teams were able to generate excess returns ahead of industry benchmarks while taking advantage of attractive valuations that brought short term gains as well as ones likely to crystallise into longer term value for our investors. Our portfolio of Private Investments continued to implement turnaround strategies leading to a positive contribution from this business in 2020.”