Property developer DAMAC Properties Dubai Co PJSC reported a nearly 87 percent drop in second-quarter net profit on Wednesday, hurt by the emirate's slumping property market. DAMAC, owner and operator of the only Trump-branded golf club in the Middle East, said in a statement its net profit in the three months ended June 30 fell to 50.6 million dirhams ($13.78 million) from 378.2 million dirhams a year ago.

The results still beat analyst expectations from regional investment bank EFG-Hermes, which expected the developer to report a profit of 37 million dirhams. Revenue fell 45.7 percent to 971.1 million dirhams.

Dubai property prices have fallen since a mid-2014 peak, hurt by weaker oil prices and muted sales. In a separate disclosure, Dubai-listed contractor Arabtec Holding reported a 47.2 percent drop in net profit for the second quarter to 26.1 million dirhams.

Revenue declined to 2.19 billion dirhams in the quarter, compared with 2.39 billion dirhams in the same period a year earlier. S&P Global Ratings expects the downturn to continue this year, with residential property prices falling another 5 percent-10 percent due to a continued gap between supply and demand, before steadying in 2020.

Copyright Reuters, 2019