Mubasher: The Commercial Real Estate (Al Tijaria) reported a decline of 56.9% in profits during the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2017 compared to the corresponding period in the previous year.

Earnings shrank to KWD 2.98 million ($9.96 million) in Q4-17 from KWD 6.91 million ($23.09 million) in Q4-16, according to a bourse statement on Wednesday.

During FY17, Al Tijaria registered a drop of 6.7% in profits to KWD 14.26 million compared to KWD 15.29 million in the prior fiscal year.

Al Tijaria noted that the decrease in profits is attributed to higher operating revenues and lower fair value (FV) of the real estate investments.

The board members recommended a cash dividend of 5% or 5 fils per share for FY17.

It is noteworthy that Al Tijaria achieved a growth of 34.6% in profits to KWD 11.28 million during the first nine months of FY17 from KWD 8.38 million in the same period a year ago.