Emaar Properties, the biggest property developer in the United Arab Emirates, reported a second-quarter loss after writing down the value of bankrupt U.S. homebuilder John Laing Homes.

The net loss was 1.29 billion dirhams ($350m), or 21 fils a share, compared with a profit of 2.12 billion dirhams, or 35 fils, a year earlier, Emaar said in a statement today on the Dubai exchange’s Web site. The median estimate of five analysts in a Bloomberg survey was for earnings of 342 million dirhams.

'The first half of the year was extremely challenging as we steered the company through new realities,' Chairman Mohammed Alabbar said in the statement.

bloomberg.com