DAE repurchases shares, bonds worth $542m in 2020

Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) announced on Sunday it had repurchased outstanding common shares worth $350 million and bonds worth $192 million in 2020.

The aircraft leasing firm said it acquired 38 aircraft in 2020, including 14 owned and 15 managed, while underwriting new purchase orders for 55 aircraft.

DAE, which is owned by sovereign wealth fund Investment Corporation of Dubai, said its fleet size of 425 aircraft catered to 108 customers across 53 countries. The fleet includes owned, managed, committed and mandated to manage aircraft. The company has targeted increasing its fleet to 800 jets by 2026-28.

The company sold 28 aircraft in 2020 and signed lease agreement and extensions for 125 aircraft. Owned fleet utilization at year-end remained at 98.2. The average age of the owned fleet was 6.2 years while the average lease terms of the owned fleet remained at 6.6 years, DAE said in a statement.

In March 2020, DAE recommenced its bond repurchasing programme and authorised an increase in its bond repurchase by $300 million, to be conducted through open market transactions.

In the first nine months of 2020, DAE net profits fell by $93.2 million to $167.3 million from $260.5 million during the same 2019 period. Revenues also dropped to $984.1 million from $1.085 billion year-on-year. — issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com