CAIRO: Talaat Moustafa Group (TMG), Egypt's biggest listed developer, posted a 44 percent slide in first-half net profit to LE 371.2 million ($62.3 million), the bourse said on Wednesday. The firm, which has suffered the brunt of a crisis in Egypt's once-booming real estate industry, made a profit of LE 662.4 million for the same period last year. A legal challenge to TMG's flagship development Madinaty last year sparked the industry crisis that worsened with the ousting of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in February. The profit slump was expected given weakness in TMG's key hotels business and disruption to deliveries of new homes, said HC analyst Ankur Khetawat. "It's still not really bad, as long as they are making profits," said Khetawat. "They have a decent amount of deliveries sustaining their bottom line ... In terms of existing properties, customers are paying." The company would only bear the full brunt of its latest troubles years from now, he said, pointing out that TMG had sold no new property in the latest quarter. TMG shares have lost half their value this year, compared to a drop of one third by Egypt's benchmark EGX30 index. Its shares were up 5.4 percent on Wednesday. "The stock is trading a lot below fair value right now," Khatawat added.
