Dubai: Islamic mortgage lender Tamweel on Tuesday reported a 249 per cent jump in net profit, reaching Dh176.34 million during the first quarter this year compared to Dh50.47 million in the first quarter of 2007, the company said in a statement.

Islamic financing and investing assets in the first quarter of 2008 rose to Dh6.63 billion, an increase of 120 per cent compared to Dh3.01 billion in the first quarter of 2007.

Income from Islamic financing and investing assets in the first quarter of 2008 rose to Dh139.51 million, an increase of 128 per cent compared to Dh61.23 million in the first quarter of 2007.

Shaikh Khalid Bin Zayed Bin Saqr Al Nahyan, chairman of Tamweel, said: "Being at the pinnacle of the industry and consistently demonstrating such robust performance also means that we are redefining the success of the real estate finance industry every step of the way."

Dividend

In the first three months of this year alone, Tamweel booked a record Dh2.54 billion in financed properties, while its accumulated financing assets under service are now stands at more than Dh11.52 billion.

A cash dividend of 21.8 per cent of the company's share capital, amounting to Dh218 million, was approved at the Annual General Meeting this year. Setting new standards with funding diversification, our $300 million exchangeable Sukuk issue was oversubscribed within just hours of announcement.

Tamweel was established in November 2002 as Emirates Finance Company.