DFM's Nine-Month Net Profit Falls to $146.5M as Traded Value Rises 22%
Headline profit dropped 36.6% against a year-earlier period that included a property disposal, while turnover, trade counts and new investor registrations all climbed.
Dubai Financial Market recorded a nine-month net profit of AED 538 million ($146.5 million), 36.6% below the AED 848.1 million ($230.9 million) booked in the same stretch a year earlier, the exchange said in a Thursday filing.
The earlier figure carried a one-off gain from a property sale, and the same disposal explains most of the revenue decline. Pre-tax profit slipped 37% to AED 586.4 million ($159.7 million) from AED 930.8 million ($253.5 million).
Consolidated revenue came in at AED 753.2 million ($205.1 million), against AED 1.1 billion ($299.5 million). The prior-year period included AED 461.9 million ($125.8 million) of one-off income from the sale of an investment property.
Traded value up 22%
Activity on the exchange moved the other way. Total traded value climbed 22% to AED 162 billion ($44.1 billion) from AED 133 billion ($36.2 billion), and average daily traded value rose 25% to AED 883 million ($240.4 million).
Average daily trades increased 26% to roughly 17,200. The total trade count reached 3.16 million, up 24%, across 184 trading days — four fewer than the 188 sessions in the comparable period.
Chairman Helal Saeed Al Marri said the growth in traded value reflected sustained investor engagement and the increasing depth of Dubai's capital markets.
Revenue divided into AED 511.2 million ($139.2 million) of operating income and AED 242 million ($65.9 million) of investment returns and other income. EBITDA was AED 642 million ($174.8 million), a margin of 85.2%. Expenses excluding tax edged up 2.6% to AED 166.8 million ($45.4 million) from AED 162.6 million ($44.3 million), as the exchange kept spending on market infrastructure and technology.
Third-quarter softening
Pre-tax profit in the third quarter fell 6.8% to AED 143.2 million ($39 million) from AED 153.7 million ($41.9 million) a year earlier. Net profit attributable to shareholders was AED 130.5 million ($35.5 million), down 4.3% from AED 136.3 million ($37.1 million). Quarterly revenue declined 4.1% to AED 196.2 million ($53.4 million) from AED 204.5 million ($55.7 million).
Investor base
Hamed Ali, chief executive of both DFM and Nasdaq Dubai, said the investor base now exceeds 1.3 million. He said the exchange would keep widening access to its market and supporting new listings.
DFM added 55,460 new investors in the first nine months, with international investors accounting for 72% of registrations. The exchange handled retail subscriptions to the Ministry of Finance's first Retail Sukuk, which listed on Nasdaq Dubai on July 2, 2026.
Institutions generated 73% of traded value, up from 70%, and foreign investors contributed 51% of trading activity.
Market capitalisation stood at AED 993 billion ($270.4 billion) at the end of September. The DFM General Index closed the period at 5,960.54 points, down 1.4% year to date.
Heavier turnover alongside a slightly weaker index points to where the exchange's earnings now sit: fees and activity rather than price appreciation. A single property disposal a year ago still dominates the year-on-year comparison, while the operating business expanded on volume.
