Property handovers help Dubai's Nakheel swing to Q1 profit

DUBAI May 31 (Reuters) - Dubai's Nakheel Properties on Thursday said it swung to a profit in the first quarter as the developer handed over more properties and it cut costs.

Nakheel, which was at the centre of a debt crisis in Dubai in 2009 when real estate prices crashed, said it made a profit of 362 million dirhams ($98.56 million)in the three months to March 31, up from a loss of 36 million dirhams in the year-earlier period.

First-quarter revenue rose 159 percent to 1.35 billion dirhams.

"Revenues  were mainly driven by the handover of development properties in a number of Nakheel projects," the company said in an emailed statement.

"Other business segments including retail and leasing also contributed positively to the results."

The developer, which wrote off up to $21.4 billion of its real estate assets due to the property crash, said it had cut costs by 22 million dirhams in the first quarter, but did not provide comparative figures.

Nakheel said its results indicated "a relatively more stable real estate market in Dubai".

After a spectacular two-thirds collapse since 2008, Dubai house prices may finally stop falling this year, according to a Reuters poll earlier this month. ($1 = 3.6730 UAE dirhams) (Reporting by Matt Smith; Editing by Dinesh Nair)