CAIRO: Egypt s Commercial International Bank (CIB) increased its net profit by 20.6 percent to LE 610.14 million ($106.48 million) in 2005, the bank said in a statement on Monday. The bank said it made LE 505.76 million in net profit in 2004. Most of the increase in 2005 came from an increase in net interest income, which rose 26 percent to LE 895.85 million, compared with LE 708.91 million in 2004. They did a good job with the net interest income, said Mohamed Kotb, head of trading at Prime Asset Management. The bank had also made profits from foreign exchange gains and sales of investments, while facing increased costs as a result of expanding its retail business, Kotb added. The bank s core business was the main driver for the increase ... This will be good for the stock, he said. State-owned National Bank of Egypt is seeking buyers for its 24.3 million shares in CIB, an 18.7 percent stake worth about LE 1.34 billion, based on the price of the bank s stock at the end of Sunday s session. The results helped CIB shares climb 2.7 percent to LE 56 by 13:01 GMT. The market has taken the results as being very positive -- above our expectations, Yasser Hassanein of Dynamic Securities said. -Reuters
