CAIRO: Talaat Moustafa Group, Egypt's largest real estate developer by market value, expects net profit to grow at least 30 percent in 2008 on strong residential sales, its chief financial officer said on Sunday. The company also said it made a net profit of LE 1.34 billion ($240 million) in the first nine months of 2008. "Our net profit should be between LE 1.7 billion and LE 1.8 billion after minority interest, Chief Financial Officer Jihad Al-Sawaftah told Reuters. Total sales would rise to between LE 13.5 billion and LE 14 billion mainly driven by sales in its Madinaty project near Cairo, he said. Total sales, at LE 10.5 billion last year, had reached LE 13 billion by the end of September, he said. "We have good credibility in the market because of our past projects and people are buying in Madinaty, Sawaftah said. "People also like the progress they have seen there. Shares of the developer, which began trading on the stock exchange last year, dropped 6.98 percent to LE 3.20 by 1052 GMT, in line with the CASE 30 index. The shares have fallen more than 70 percent this year and are the fourth-worst performers on the CASE 30 index. "It's a panic in the market today, Hashem El-Ghoneim, chief executive of Cairo-based El Nour Securities, said. "People are still concerned about the management of Talaat Moustafa, he added. Hisham Talaat Moustafa, the group's former chairman, pleaded not guilty in a murder trial earlier this month over the killing of Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim. Moustafa, also a member of parliament for the ruling National Democratic Party, was charged with paying security man Mohsen El-Sokkari $2 million to stab Tamim to death at her house in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates on July 28. Moustafa has given up the chairmanship of the Talaat Moustafa Group to his brother Tarek and has been stripped of the legal immunity he enjoyed as a member of the upper house of parliament.
