Deyaar Development, a property developer based in Dubai, yesterday announced a profit of Dh54.4m (US$14.8m) for the first three months of this year.

The profit, on revenue of Dh470m, was about 73% below the first quarter of last year, when the company announced net income of Dh202m.

The profit was 'in line with the company’s earlier forecasts and budgetary priorities', the company said.

Deyaar said it would set up a 500 million dirham ($137 million) fund to buy back distressed property sold to investors who can no longer pay for their purchases.

The National, Wall Street Journal