00:00Sir, we really appreciate you sitting down with Bloomberg Television.
00:03There's been so much going on.
00:04I am obviously going to start with the point of there has been so much geopolitical upheaval.
00:10We've gone through very challenging last couple of months.
00:14What has the impact been on house prices?
00:17You know, I'm a survivor of 1997 crisis in Asia.
00:21One of the most difficult crises that I've faced in my life.
00:24And then we've gone through 2008 crisis.
00:27Then there were two, I guess, two wars in the Middle East as well.
00:30And then we've got the COVID situation.
00:32I think we got used to these situations of instability.
00:35Therefore, I think we as human beings, we are really becoming fit or fitter to deal with this.
00:42And our organization has been built also to deal with it.
00:45So I'll be honest with you.
00:47I mean, okay, there'll be a bit of tourism slowdown, which in my opinion, I think it's coming back probably
00:52by October.
00:53Because, you know, we forget quickly.
00:54I think the government here are the first class in what they do.
00:58But our companies are in such good shape.
01:01And we've done so good the past five years and beyond before that.
01:06That, you know, we take a bit of shakeup in the system.
01:09It's no big deal.
01:10But if you look at, but I'll give you data on real estate.
01:13See, in the U.S., they make their polls, political polls on 1,200, 1,500 people, right?
01:19I have 40,000 customers.
01:22My backlog is $45 billion.
01:25These are 40,000 customers who have bought homes for me.
01:29And they're making monthly installments so I can deliver their homes, right?
01:34In the month of December, I had about 800 to 850 customers asking for delay of payment.
01:42And during the war, that number went to 1,000, 1,050.
01:49Now, it is 720 or 750.
01:54So that, it's a real realistic number.
01:56I'm a public company.
01:57Yeah.
01:58That tells you what's the confidence like.
02:01Okay.
02:02Very good measure.
02:03What about visibility on pricing, though?
02:05Do you plan to lower prices on your project?
02:07People say that there is a drop of 5%.
02:09We have not dropped, not even $1.
02:10And we are not planning to drop.
02:12And what about the visibility on your project?
02:15No.
02:15Keep one thing in mind.
02:16Other developers, I hear those who have high debt or they don't have velocity of sale,
02:22similar maybe to us or maybe their brand value.
02:26They might be affected differently than ourselves.
02:30Can I ask you, what gives you the confidence that the outlook is still going to be robust
02:37when you think of the bounce back?
02:40Because, you know, one of the key drivers of demand has been population growth.
02:43There's a lack of visibility about how that's going to pan out now.
02:46Well, I can only look at the past and the trajectory of this country's policies are mind-blowing.
02:52And they learn from every single incident.
02:57And they only get better.
02:59They adopt fast.
03:00And I really think after this one, these, the leadership here, are so paranoid about being
03:09the best of the best.
03:10And this is going to be the time.
03:13I feel it.
03:14I feel it in my bones.
03:17So, therefore, I think we have to get ready that this country is going to be, it is one
03:22of the best, to be honest with you.
03:23So, a lot of the plants have been, a lot of the projects have been sold off-plan.
03:28Yeah.
03:28Is there a concern about the ability to deliver on those projects?
03:32As I said, I have about 90 projects under construction.
03:36Everything is moving well, on time.
03:40Okay.
03:40Contractors, they always delay, but we're doing really well.
03:44Supplies are not bad as well.
03:45And as I said, out of my 40,000 customers, the data of monthly collection is better now
03:55than before the war, which tells me that people really have great confidence in this
04:01place.
04:02What is the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz doing to your costs and your ultimate
04:08profitability?
04:09Because it's getting harder.
04:11Of course.
04:11To obtain what you need.
04:13Number one, I think the closure of Hormuz, I don't know politics a lot, but I only read
04:17the newspaper or the media, that it's a global issue.
04:22I think the world is affected by China, India, the United States, everybody is affected by
04:27that.
04:27So, therefore, I'm very optimistic that this thing is going to be sorted because the
04:31whole world is at stake.
04:32It's not about a war.
04:34That's number one.
04:35Number two, we took a pause now.
04:38We're not tendering any of our buildings because we understand that the contractors are
04:42probably facing some future logistic issues.
04:46So, therefore, we've delayed about six buildings.
04:49Out of our annually, we do about 70 buildings.
04:53So, we're delaying that just for people to be comfortable.
04:56When will the ports operate normally?
04:58So, we can wait one, two, three months.
05:00That shouldn't affect us.
05:02Would you say that that is one of the biggest risks to your business, though, if we see a
05:08sustained closure of the Strait of Hormuz in the foreseeable future?
05:11Well, but then remember, UAE has two ports on the Indian Ocean.
05:15I mean, we are blessed as well.
05:17We've got rail system.
05:19We've got roads.
05:19And again, it's only one hour drive.
05:21So, we're also blessed that we've got two back doors.
05:25So, I know you also have visibility on consumer trends as well.
05:30You know, you'll see the footfall going through malls.
05:33Can you give us an update on what transpired throughout the war and how you're seeing the
05:38post-recovery or recovery trends?
05:40Yeah, I like your question.
05:42I was looking at these numbers yesterday.
05:43I thought somebody would ask me.
05:45Typically, in Dubai Mall, we have about 300,000 visitors a day.
05:50During the war, it went down 50%.
05:53Then, after the ceasefire, it started moving upward.
05:57Yesterday, it was only 5% down.
06:00And I'm surprised because I don't have the tourists yet.
06:04But all I can tell you is that the trajectory is in the right direction.
06:08Okay.
06:09I was speaking to the CEO of Dubai Airports earlier today, and he was saying that he is also predicting
06:14a robust recovery.
06:16Would you say that the two go hand-in-hand there?
06:18For you to get back to pre-war trends, you also need the tourists to come back in to where
06:23we were pre-war.
06:24Without a doubt.
06:24But then again, please remember, we had years of almost 85% occupancy in our hotels, incredible
06:31rates.
06:32We made so much money.
06:33And then we take a break for months.
06:35That's okay.
06:36We get, you know, that's okay.
06:38Yeah.
06:38We have time to maintain and repair our hotels.
06:41So, from what I'm gathering from our conversation just now, you know, you're obviously speaking
06:46about Amar, and you are positive about where we go from here.
06:50Even in my e-commerce business and my food business.
06:52And let me just ask you, you know, what do you think sets apart Amar from other property
06:57developers?
06:58Are they equally as optimistic as you?
07:01Maybe not.
07:01But I think if you produce quality product, and you're really honest about it, and if
07:07you really look after your customer, if you're debt level, and we almost have no debt, if
07:13you're debt level, it's a check, right?
07:16I think you can weather the storm.
07:19It's simple.
07:21There are no guarantees in life.
07:23But you have to be ready after all these years.
07:25You haven't learned the lesson?
07:27Come on, shame on us.
07:28Okay, what about the regional impact?
07:30You know, you have exposure in Egypt as well.
07:33Correct.
07:33What is the visibility on those plans on back of everything that's happened here?
07:37In Egypt, again, we have really tremendous brand.
07:39We have great customer loyalty, great margin in what we do in Egypt.
07:44So, that's still doing extremely well.
07:46Of course, I'm into East Europe as well, and that's also doing well.
07:50Yeah.
07:50And then, final question, just to round things off.
07:53What is the visibility on your India plans?
07:57I know there were some question marks about whether you're going to sell the business
08:00or not.
08:01What's the latest there?
08:01Last week, I spent two days in Mumbai.
08:04India is mind-blowing.
08:06India is the future of the world.
08:08That's all I can tell you.
08:10Is that a yes?
08:11Absolutely.
08:12You're going to sell it or keep it?
08:13Oh, no, no, no.
08:15We'll grow it.
08:16You'll grow it.
08:17Okay.
08:17And that's why, in fact, we are so ignorant, including me.
08:20I'm inviting my board, next board meeting, to be in India for two days to see the incredible
08:26India story.
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