The start of trading of shares of Amer Group in the market failed to revive it with EGX30 ending last week in the red after it shed 2.2 per cent in a week. On the macroeconomic level, the indicators were mixed. The balance of payments hit $14.7 million during the period between July and September of the current 2010-2011 fiscal year, against $2.1 billion in the same period last year, according to a report issued by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE). Imports grew 9.3 per cent to $12.73 billion while exports climbed 13 per cent to $6.1 billion. Foreign direct investment (FDI) during the quarter fell to $1.60 billion from $1.73 billion. Revenue from tourism, the Suez Canal, exports and remittances from Egyptians living overseas revived from the previous year during which the economy was muddling through the global economic crisis which began in 2008. Revenue from tourism climbed 13 per cent year-on-year to $3.7 billion and the Suez Canal income rose 13 per cent to $1.3 billion. However, the current account deficit widened to $802.2 million in the July to September quarter from $493.4 million in the same quarter a year earlier. ORASCOM DEVELOPMENT HOLDING: The group is in negotiation with the European Investment Bank and a French fund to get 30-40 million euros to finance its expansions in Switzerland, Oman, Morocco and Romania. This is in addition to the 23 million euro loan the firm got earlier to finance its Club Med Taba project over 10 years. The company's CEO, Samih Sawiris previously said the company will self-finance 54 per cent of the cost of Club Med which amounted to 26 million euros. The company is to freeze its plan to issue bonds and will resort to bank credits instead to cover the balance of the cost. ORASCOM TELECOM HOLDING (OTH): A statement by the company asserted that it is not part of a deal to acquire a majority stake in the Serbian mobile company, Telekom Srbija. OTH said its parent company Weather Investments has directly submitted a buying offer for the Serbian operator. Telekom Srbija is 80 per cent owned by the state and 20 per cent by Greece's Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation. The Serbian entity is valued at 2.43 billion euros and the list of companies expressing interest in it includes America Movil, Deutsche Telekom, Telekom Austria and France Telecom. On a different note, the supervisory board of Russian telecom group VimpelCom hopes to review the $6.6 billion acquisition of Weather Investments before the end of 2010. The company is expected to mandate banks to arrange a $4 billion loan to part finance its $6.6 billion takeover bid for OTH and Italy's Wind. ORASCOM CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRIES (OCI): Qatar's winning the right to host the World Cup 2022 gave OCI shares a good push with shares being snatched amid speculations that the Cairo-based company may get contracts in the Gulf country. Besix Group, a 50 per cent-owned subsidiary of OCI, is part of a joint venture that won a $750 million contract to build the third phase of the passenger terminal at the New Doha International Airport. MARIDIVE AND OIL SERVICES (MOIL): The company aims at doubling the value of its operations to reach $750 million by the end of 2011. Maridive, the largest oil services company in the Middle East, has executed $340 million worth of contracts so far in 2010. The company started in July 2010 the execution of its $380 million pipeline project in Saudi Arabia. THE EGYPTIAN COMPANY FOR MOBILE SERVICES (MOBINIL): Both the National Bank of Egypt and Commercial International Bank signed an initial contract with Egyptian Mobinil to arrange and manage a LE1 billion medium term loan for the latter. The loan with a duration of four to six years will be used to finance the company's expansions in 3G and networks. On a different note, Zawya news service quoted a company senior official as saying it aims at raising its subscribers' base to 30 million before the end of 2010. Mobinil is the largest operator in Egypt by number of subscribers totalling 28.40 million at the end of June. EZZ STEEL: Egypt's largest steel producer posted a net profit in the third quarter of 2010, reversing a loss in the same quarter a year ago and forecast that growing steel demand would push prices higher in 2011. The net profit came at LE1.65 million compared with a loss of LE67 million pounds in the same quarter a year earlier. "An improvement in prices in the fourth quarter, combined with a reduction in volatility, are both positive signals for our 2011 outlook," Paul Chekaiban, Ezz Steel's managing director said in a statement. The statement also noted that demand for steel products in the Egyptian market continues to remain at very high levels thanks to construction growth and the restart of infrastructure projects. Net sales for the quarter rose 36.3 per cent year-on-year to LE4.1 billion.
