THE EGYPTIAN American Bank (EAB) will increase its paid-in capital from LE432 million to LE648 million through a capital increase on existing shareholders. The capital increase approved by the company's extraordinary general assembly's meeting will comprise 21.6 million shares increasing the bank's outstanding shares to 64.8 million. It will be distributed among the EAB shareholders on the basis of one free share for each two shares, and will be financed from the bank's legal reserve fund and its 2004 profits. The increase comes in line with the requirement of the Central Bank of Egypt that local banks increase their minimum capital to LE500 million by mid-June. EAB shareholders also approved the merger plan between the EAB and American Express Egypt. On Wednesday, the bank announced its 2004 results, showing a net income growth of 134.6 per cent. EAB posted LE240.6 million in 2004 net income compared with LE102.5 million a year earlier. In December 2004, Moody's upgraded EAB's financial strength rating from "negative" to "stable. EAB is 35 per cent owned by the state-run Bank of Alexandria and 25 per cent owned by American Express Bank, while the remaining amount is represented in free float shares in the Egyptian stock market. In February, it was included in the CASE 30 Index which traces the performance of the market's thirty most actively traded shares.
