CAIRO: SODIC, Egypt's third-biggest listed developer, posted a third-quarter net profit of LE 56.7 million ($9.96 million) on Sunday, rebounding from a year-earlier loss as revenue soared. The high-end real estate firm, which does not fully recognize revenue until it delivers units, made a LE 9.3 million net loss in the same quarter last year. Many homebuyers in Egypt purchase houses off-plan, or before delivery, meaning sales can take as much as five years to show up on SODIC's books. The firm's revenue jumped more than 10-fold to LE 87.9 million in the quarter from LE 7.9 million in the same period last year, beating an average analyst estimate of LE 61 million. For net profit, two analysts polled by Reuters had on average forecast 15 million. The company said in October it had made LE 1.6 billion worth of sales so far in 2010 and is making more than 50 percent of its profit from commercial projects. In September, SODIC secured a LE 350 million loan to speed work on its flagship Allegria project and it is seeking to raise a total LE 1.5 billion by 2012. SODIC's nine-month net profit was LE 107.4 million compared with a loss of LE 30.1 million last year. The firm's shares closed up 1.6 percent, in line with the main benchmark index, EGX30.
