Mazaya to infuse QR500 mn into its real estate portfolio

Mazaya Real Estate Development Company will seek to enhance its real estate investments portfolio with an infusion of QR500 million, the company’s chairman said on Tuesday.
Outlining the company’s future strategy during the company’s annual general meeting (AGM) held in Doha on Tuesday, Mazaya Real Estate Development Company Chairman Sheikh Salman bin Hassan Al Thani said, “This is already underway, with investments of QR220 million on properties with fixed income for several years and an estimated return of 7 percent. The portfolio should be completed within the next two years.”
Sheikh Salman said Mazaya would enhance its activities in real estate development through the selling of housing units; the first of these projects will be launched in 2022.
The company will seek to benefit from the growth in the tourism sector, as it is currently working on securing accommodation for visitors during the 2022 FIFA World Cup period in its properties.
“The company will also seek to benefit from the facilities provided by Qatar to stimulate the real-estate market by supporting the growth of tourism and the new policies of golden residency and foreign ownership,” he said.
In its annual report that reviewed the company’s performance during the year 2021, Mazaya said the company faced several challenges during 2021 which had an impact on various levels.
He said, “We emerged in the year 2021 from difficult circumstances. In 2020, the company received a qualified opinion from the external auditors relating to two of our assets. This led us to carrying out a comprehensive re-evaluation of our real-estate portfolio in the aim of ascertaining the correctness of the evaluations.
“The outcome of the re-evaluation led to a decrease of 11 percent in the company’s assets with an allocation of QR272 million of provisions against our real estate investments — Tala Residence Compound, Lusail Marina project, comprehensive maintenance works on Gloria Hotel and Al Daayen land.”
Tala Residence Compound was leased to Qatar Foundation on a 10-year contract that will end in August 2022. There will be a significant decrease in the rental value if it is leased in the current market situation compared to the lease with QF. Accordingly, a provision was booked for a decrease in accordance with international accounting standards, amounting to QR148 million which make up approximately 54 percent of the allocations for the year 2021.
With regards to the Lusail Marina project which faced many challenges, the company said it was currently reviewing the terms of the BOT contract with Qatar Foundation and was looking for ways to change the project’s activity to suit developments and changes in the real estate market in general and the Lusail region in particular.
“Given the uncertainty in the possibility of continuing the project, a provision has been reserved for the full book value of the project. In the event that an agreement is reached and the project is launched, part or all of these provisions can be recovered. The allocation for the Lusail Marina project is approximately 26 percent of the volume of allocations for the year 2021.”
The company is also currently carrying out comprehensive maintenance works on Gloria Hotel. The hotel is scheduled to be completed and operating before the end of the 3rd quarter.
“This is to meet the expectations of the tourism market and Qatar’s visitors and the general public during the 2022 FIFA World Cup. To reflect the true value of the Hotel especially during the renovation period, a provision of 20 million riyals was booked, approximately 7.5 percent of the volume of provisions for the year 2021,” he said.
As for Al Daayen land, in the year 2020, the use of the land was changed from a commercial land to a residential land.
The company recorded a net loss of QR248.748 million in the year ending December 31, 2021, as against a net profit of QR31.031 million. The loss per share amounted to QR0.21 for the year ending 31st December 2021, compared to the returns per share of QR0.03 for the same duration in the previous year.
The extraordinary general assembly meeting was not held on Tuesday due to lack of quorum, the company said.