Property business favours UPDC as 9-month loss slows to lowest in 4years

UACN Property Development Company (UPDC), one of Nigeria’s notable real estate companies, has leveraged the increase in business activities in Nigeria’s property market to record its lowest nine-month loss in four years.

The company’s loss dropped by 47.27 percent in the nine-month ended September 30 2021 to N1.18 billion from the N2.22 billion loss recorded in 2017.

Compared to the nine-month report of 2020, the 2021 loss by the real estate giant was a reduction of 65.09 percent. It recorded a loss of N3.38 billion at the end of September last year.

The company’s performance in the review period was largely driven by a 34.15 percent surge in its revenue to N614.74 million in 2021 from N458.26 million in the same period of 2020.

However, UPDC’s operating loss was up 35.2 percent to N512.04 million in the review period of 2021 from the N378.72 million reported in the comparable period of the previous year.

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Also, its gross profit, a measure of a company’s efficiency rate, dropped by 58.91 percent to N85.37 million in 2021 from N207.75 million recorded in the same period of 2020.

Acknowledging the impact of COVID-19 on the property industry, UPDC in notes to the unaudited financial statements said the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has had wide-reaching implications on business activities globally but it is working on a plan to resolve the deficiency, adding that this plan will be communicated appropriately as soon as it is implemented.

The deputy CEO, UPDC, Deborah Nicol-Omeruah, revealed that the company has an unparalleled market knowledge and track record, with over N20bn in assets, strong governance and an excellent facilities management business.

The management of UPDC said that, with the launch of their new estate in Lagos known as Pinnock Prime Estate and located in the Lekki area of Lagos, they have brought excitement and opportunity into the property market for land buyers and investors.

Meanwhile, UPDC Real Estate Investment Trust is the largest Nigerian real estate mutual fund by far, controlling 67.99 percent of the country’s N46.05 billion real estate funds industry. It invests at least 75 percent of its assets directly in quality real estate (land and/or properties) in strategic locations across Nigeria.

UPDC, Nigeria’s foremost real estate development firm with a market-leading facilities management business, was incorporated as a public limited liability company in 1997 and got listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange on November 19, 1998.