Dubai Financial Market (DFM) currently disclosed its consolidated financial performance for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025. The company made a net profit before tax of AED1.06 billion. These outcomes were driven by robust trading activity, increased global involvement, and continued optimism in Dubai’s capital markets.
The fourth-quarter performance contributed to the full-year result, where liquidity levels were healthy, and there was steady trading activity at the end of the year.
It was also 25 years since DFM was founded in 2000, highlighting how the exchange became a globally linked and institutionally sound marketplace, contributing to the long-term economic development and the capital markets establishment of Dubai.
The DFM General Index (DFMGI) increased by 17.2 percent in 2025, and the total market capitalization amounted to AED992 billion, which reflects the robustness and active dynamics of the market performance throughout the year and supports the status of Dubai as a highly vibrant and stable capital market in the region.
Helal Saeed Al Marri, Chairman of DFM, said, “DFM’s performance in 2025 reflects the continued strength of Dubai’s capital markets and the confidence of global investors in the emirate’s economic vision. As we mark 25 years since the establishment of DFM, the exchange continues to play a central role within Dubai’s financial ecosystem, supporting transparency, liquidity, and long-term market development in line with the Dubai Economic Agenda D33.”
Hamed Ali, CEO of DFM and Nasdaq Dubai, added, “In 2025, DFM continued to build on the progress of recent years, supported by steady trading activity, growing international participation, and ongoing enhancements to our market infrastructure. Our focus throughout the year remained on improving market accessibility, supporting a broad range of investment activity, and ensuring the market continues to operate efficiently for both issuers and investors. As we mark 25 years of DFM, we remain committed to developing the market in line with Dubai’s long-term capital markets ambitions.”
During the entire year 2025, DFM recorded good financial performance, backed by increased trading, diversified revenues, and controlled costs. The net profit before tax was AED1.06 billion as compared to AED409.3 million in 2024. The total consolidated revenues increased to AED1.28 billion.
However, the EBITDA is valued at AED1.13 billion, with an EBITDA margin of 88 percent. Net profit before tax in Q4 2025, AED124.4 million, in contrast to AED110.6 million in Q4 2024, reflects the market momentum towards the end of the year.
Market activity improved throughout 2025, providing the most intense liquidity in more than a decade. The value of average daily traded was AED 692 million, and the total value of traded was AED 174 billion.
The average daily number of trades surged by 31 percent year-on-year, backed by greater institutional participation and continued growth in cross-border trading activity.
DFM has continued to enjoy a diversified and wide investor base in 2025, with international and retail investors remaining steady participants in the market throughout the year. There were 97,394 new investors who came into the market in 2025, with 84 percent being foreign.
Therefore, the foreign investors contributed 51 percent of the total value of trading and 71 percent of institutional investors’ trading. The number of investors was at 1.25 million, which underscores the attractiveness of DFM as a regional and international destination of capital.
DFM continued to be a robust and reputable capital formation location in 2025 and was receiving capital formation transactions that were highly strategic to boost market depth and sectoral diversification.
They featured the listing of Dubai Residential REIT, the first publicly listed residential leasing REIT in the region that drew IPO subscriptions 26 times, with overall demand amounting to AED56 billion on the part of institutional and retail investors.
The successful secondary public offering of Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (du) increased liquidity and free float, attracting a strong demand among the local and foreign investors.
In the construction and infrastructure industry, DFM welcomed the IPO of ALEC Holdings, the UAE’s biggest construction sector listing to date. The offering helped to raise subscriptions of AED30 billion, which was an oversubscription of 21 times, and gained a large interest among international institutional investors.
These transactions together enhanced the sectoral presence of DFM in real estate, telecommunication, and construction sectors, which validated the capacity of the exchange to facilitate capital raising within various sectors of the economy.
DFM has continued to focus on innovation in its strategy during 2025. The introduction of a centralized Securities Lending and Borrowing (SLB) system was a successful step in improving liquidity and facilitating more complex trading strategies.
DFM further expanded its digital infrastructure, including improvements to iVestor with AI-enriched access to disclosures and market information, promoting increased transparency and investor participation.
DFM also reinforced the convening part of its mission by organizing the third instalment of its flagship event, the Capital Market Summit, which brought together over 1,500 participants in the global market, policymakers, and leaders of the industry to discuss the forces influencing capital markets in the contemporary world.
Summit discussions covered technology and digital transformation of market infrastructure, IPO trends and capital formation, cross-border capital flows, changing investor behavior, such as the emergence of retail participation, and the continued renewal of private markets.
DFM, also on the margins of the Summit, entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) to formulate collaboration on cross-border listings, mutual marketing, reaching the investor, and sharing of knowledge, facilitating the DFM strategy of expanding connectivity with the Asian markets and broadening the reach of the investor across different regions.
Simultaneously, DFM had been building on the engagement of international investors in 2025 with select global roadshows in New York and London, reaching institutional investors in leading financial centers.
Such events offered an opportunity to showcase the strengths of the Dubai economy, its market depth and investment opportunities, and strengthen the reputation of DFM as a bridge linking regional development and international capital.
In the future, DFM is committed to improving its liquidity, increasing product variety, and expanding connectivity throughout the world. DFM has a solid financial base and an expanding, diversified base of investors, which puts it in a good position to facilitate the further development of the capital markets in Dubai.
