EGX’s Main Index Falls 2.5% In Week Ahead of Presidential Elections
Egypt Exchange’s benchmark EGX 30 index declined by 2.48 % this week, representing a retreat of 124.61 points, ending Thursday transactions at 4,890.30 points compared to 5,014.91 points at the end of last week.
Regarding current week trading, the index hit its highest point on Sunday closing at 5,083.26 points, where its lowest point recorded on Thursday at 4,890.30 points.
Egyptian stock exchange main index EGX30 started week on strong performance and increased by 1.36 % on Sunday to close at 5,083.26 points. Market trade volume reached 70,237,555 shares amounted to EGP 294,717,034.
The index returned to red area and retreated by 0.42 % on Monday to close at 5,061.68 points. Market trade volume reached 98,129,323 shares amounted to EGP 699,064,430.
Egypt’s stock exchange main index extended decline for the second day and retreated by 1.12 % on Tuesday to close at 5,004.98 points. Market trade volume reached 76,681,758 shares amounted to EGP 417,032,879.
Egyptian stock exchange main index EGX30 widened red gap for the third day and retreated by 0.99 % on Wednesday to close at 4,955.31 points after fluctuated performance. Market trade volume reached 74,369,152 shares amounted to EGP 480,689,507.
Egypt’s stock exchange benchmark extended negative performance for the fourth day and dipped by 1.31 % on Thursday to close at 4,890.30. Market trade volume reached 92,756,050 shares amounted to EGP 637,903,308.
Companies’ Weekly Performance:
Egyptian Company for Mobile Services (Mobinil) (EMOB.CA) stock closed last week at EGP 196.44, while closed on Thursday at EGP 198.99 (highest close), upping 1 % (EGP 2.55).
The lowest close during that week came on Sunday closing at EGP 197.01.
On Wednesday, Mobinil announced that company’s BOD approved the mandatory tender offer submitted by France Telecom’s MT Telecom to buy 100 million shares (100 %) of Mobinil according to the study prepared by HC Securities, the independent financial adviser, which evaluated company’s share at EGP 117.34 compared to the submitted price at EGP 202.5 per share.
Mobinil added, in a release sent to EGX that, accordingly BOD sees the submitted price is good for shareholders, workers and company.
Orascom Telecom – (ORTE.CA) stock closed last week at EGP 3.33, while closed on Thursday at EGP 3.14 (lowest close); dipping 6 %(EGP 0.19).
The highest close during the week came on Sunday closing at EGP 3.38.
On Monday, Orascom Telecom, the Egyptian firm bought last year by Russia’s Vimpelcom, said its first quarter net income fell 85 percent compared with to a year earlier when profit soared on sale of a stake in its Tunisian business, Reuters reported.
Orascom Telecom’s net income before minority interest fell to $120.4 million from $821.7 million in the first quarter of 2011, the company said in a statement on Monday.
Orascom Telecom Holding (OTH) sold its entire shareholding in Orascom Tunisia Holding and Carthage Consortium — through which it owned 50 percent of Orascom Telecom Tunisia (OTT) — for a total of $1.2 billion during the first quarter of 2011.
“The (income) decrease is a result of the sale of OTH’s entire shareholding in Orascom Tunisia Holding and Carthage Consortium,” the firm said in a statement on Monday.
“Taking into consideration the 20 percent tax on capital gains in Tunisia and its associated investment cost, OTH recognized a gain of $754 million on the transaction last year.”
Revenue for the first quarter of 2012 rose 1 percent to $899 million due to an organic GSM revenue growth of 10 percent.
Revenue also grew due to significant fluctuations in local currency rates against the dollar in the firm’s Algeria, Pakistan and Bangladesh units, as well as liquidation of the firm’s handset business “Ring,” Orascom said.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 5 percent to $433 million.
“(EBITDA growth) is a result of successful OPEX optimisation in most operations,” the firm said, adding that cost control measures in its units included tariff optimisation.
First quarter EBITDA margin stood at 48.2 percent, it said.
Orascom Telecom’s subscriber base grew 15.2 percent to exceed 82 million at the end of the first quarter due in part to loyalty campaigns launched at its Algerian unit Djezzy and reduction of the SIM tax in Bangladesh in June 2011.
Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) – (OCIC.CA) stock closed last week at EGP 273.45, while closed on Thursday at EGP 275.9, representing an increase of 1 % (EGP 2.45).
The highest close during that week came on Sunday closing at EGP 280.26, while the lowest close during the week came on Wednesday at EGP 273.71.
Shareholders in Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) have approved a plan to separate its construction and fertiliser businesses into two new companies, the group said on Thursday.
The move is designed to make the two entities more competitive, widen their investor base, make their management more flexible and improve their credit profiles, Reuters reported.
“OCI reported a record shareholder participation rate of 84.48 percent of the company’s total outstanding shares at the extraordinary general meeting,” it said in a statement.
Egypt’s regulator, Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA) must approve the move before it can go ahead.
Telecom Egypt – (ETEL.CA) closed last week at EGP 12.81, while closed on Thursday at EGP 12.53 (lowest close), dipping by 2 % (0.28).
Stock highest level recorded on Sunday closing at EGP 13.
Landline monopoly Telecom Egypt reported a 1.7 percent rise in quarterly net profit, and said while the local business environment was stabilising it was too early to say whether it would pay an interim dividend.
“For the time being we continue to operate in a turbulent environment so the first-quarter result is not the time to make a decision about distribution of dividends,” chief financial officer Hassan Helmy told Reuters on Monday.
Chief executive Tarek Aboualam said the company expected 2012 revenue to be flat to slightly lower and a mid-40s EBITDA percent margin.
Telecom Egypt reported first-quarter consolidated net income of 912 million Egyptian pounds ($151 million), on revenue up 12 percent to 2.68 billion pounds. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were 1.39 billion pounds, delivering a margin of 52 percent, the company said.
Earnings per share were 0.53 pound.
The company said it wanted to become an integrated telecoms provider and was targeting a mobile virtual network operator if the regulator’s terms were suitable.
“Our goal of becoming a total telecoms provider has taken an important step forward with the recent announcement that the National Telecommunications Authority has approved in principle the issuance of an MVNO license,” Aboualam said.
“We hope that the dialogue on the terms of this licence will be concluded soon,” he said, adding that an internal NTRA committee was preparing the legal and technical terms for the license to be issued by around August.
Telecom Egypt owns a 45 percent stake in British operator Vodafone’s local unit. It said Vodafone Egypt contributed 192 million pounds to group profit.
On Thursday, Telecom Egypt announced the completion of a review into the structure of its Executive Management team.
In light of a comprehensive review of the structure and positions of senior management the company, has decided to reduce the number of Executive Vice Presidents from twelve to six VPs.
Over the course of the last twelve months there have been six departures from the Executive Management team, primarily as a result of retirement.
These posts will now not be replaced and instead responsibilities will be redistributed across the remaining VP posts.
Eng. Tarek Aboualam, the CEO and Managing Director of Telecom Egypt, said: “A tighter, more focused executive team will increase accountability and greatly assist us in achieving the strategic goals of the company in the coming period. I am confident the change will offer us greater agility and operational efficiency.”
Palm Hills – (PHDC.CA) closed last week at EGP 1.98, while closed on Thursday at EGP 1.82 (lowest level), sinking by 8 % (EGP 0.16).
Stock highest level recorded on Sunday closing at EGP 2.04.
On Tuesday, Palm Hills reported consolidated financial results posting a net loss of EGP 16,291,171 in the first quarter of 2012, compared to a net loss of EGP 36,243,584 for the same period of the previous year.
Palm Hills announced that company’s BOD approved the amended contract of mutual medium term finance of EGP 497 million with Commercial International Bank to be the main arranger and the agent guarantor and other banks.
Oriental Weavers – (ORWE) closed last week at EGP 19.99, while closed on Thursday at EGP 17.75 (lowest level), sinking by 11 % (EGP 2.24).
Stock highest level recorded on Sunday closing at EGP 19.99.
On Tuesday, Oriental Weavers, the world’s largest machine-made rug and carpet manufacturer, reported financial results for the quarter ending March 31, 2012.
Sales were EGP 1.2 billion, a 24% increase year-on-year over EGP 965.9 million in Q1 2011.
Net Income after minority was EGP 86.4 million in Q1 2012, a 11% increase year-onyear.
Net profit margin was 7%, a one percentage point drop from Q1 2011, but 200 basis points above the 2011 average net profit margin of 5%.
EPS was EGP 0.97 in the quarter, an 11% increase from EGP 0.88 in 1Q 2011.
EBITDA stood at EGP 151.4 million in the quarter, a 3% increase from EGP 146.3 million in 1Q 2011. EBITDA margin was down two percentage points to 13%.
Adjusted EBITDA (1) was EGP 190.5 million, a 14% increase over the same period of last year, while adjusted margin was down one percentage point to 16%.
Mr. Mohamed Farid Khamis, Founder, said: “Our emphasis in 2011 was on maintaining competitive pricing, outstanding lead times and unbeatable service to preserve market share as some competitors sought to capitalize on challenges in our Egyptian manufacturing base at our expense. This, alongside pressure on raw materials prices, curbed our margins in the year ending December 31, 2012. In this respect, the cornerstone of our performance in Q4 2011 and Q1 2012 was the recovery of margins. Against this backdrop, we are targeting balanced performance in 2012.
“In the quarter just ended, we reported substantial growth in domestic sales on the back of an aggressive expansion of our tufted offering in Egypt and the successful implementation of a new pricing approach in export markets as we look to recoup margins outside of Egypt.
“These solid achievements in Q1 2012 clearly demonstrate the long-term viability of our customer facing strategy. In fact, the goodwill we have built up with our commitment to service, consistency (both in delivery times and product quality), and price has paid off, as our customers stood by us in the face of harsh competition.
The inference here, of course, is that our first-quarter growth this year is indicative of successful operations and not inflated results due to the impact of the Egyptian Revolution. Indeed, the first quarter of 2011 did not see Oriental Weavers suffer the decline in productivity or top-line revenues that our regional peers felt, and our bottom line declined only 15% in that period.
“We look forward to demonstrating the fact of this in the coming period, as we focus on maintaining market shares, growing margins, and expanding our product offerings in key markets.”
On Thursday, OW announced that its shareholder Sodok International Investments has purchased 169,391 shares of Oriental Weavers, in two separate transactions, to increase its stake to 5,149,391 shares (5.74 %) of total issued shares.
Also on Thursday, CI Capital maintained Oriental Weavers yearend estimates and TP of EGP32.6/share with reiterating Buy recommendation.
Egyptian Chemical Industries (Kima) – (EGCH.CA) closed last week at EGP 9.35, while closed on Thursday at EGP 8.95 (lowest level), dipping 4 % (EGP 0.4).
Stock highest level recorded on Sunday closing at EGP 9.47.
Last week, Kima BOD approved the MoU and terms of the mutual finance contract of restructuring Kima in order to operate with natural gas.
The company added, in a release sent to EGX that, it awaits the consortium of banks to sign this MoU in order to prepare the final contract of the loan.
On Monday, A consortium of 6 banks includes National Bank of Egypt, Banque Misr, Arab African International Bank, Banque Du Caire, Commercial International Bank and NSGB has finalized signing terms sheet of Kima finance to fund two production lines in Aswan.
It is worth noting that, Kima will finance the remaining amount of the investment cost through self-finance amount to $ 40 million in addition to capital increase.
On Wednesday, Kima reported financial results posting a net profit of EGP 88,741,340 for the period from 01/07/2011 till 31/03/2012, compared to net profits of EGP 43,945,055 for the same period of the previous year.
Sectors Performance:
The most active sectors all through the week were Telecommunications, Financial Services, Real Estate, Construction & Material and Banks.
Telecommunications sector achieved total traded value of EGP 451,130,075.
Financial Services came second in terms of performance, as it achieved total traded value of EGP 426,815,694.
Real Estate sector ranked third in terms of performance, as it achieved total traded value of EGP 251,309,110.
Regarding Construction & Material, it achieved total traded value of EGP 201,875,110.
Finally, Banks, as it achieved total traded value of EGP 97,162,454.
Investors’ Activity:
-Local investors led the market activity all through the week, followed by Foreign and Arab investors respectively.
– Local investors were the most active buyers all through the week as their stock this week earning the value of EGP 153,279,870.
– Arab investors chose also to buy by value of EGP 12,170,833.
– Foreign investors were most active sellers this week by the value of EGP 165,450,704.
Retail and Institutions’ Activity:
Retail activity led the market all through the week as it ranged between 33.27 – 68.78 %.
While Institutions activity ranged during this week between 31.21 – 66.72 %.
