The Ministry of Supply is currently studying the possibility of listing the Food Industries Holding Company (FIHS) on the stock market to improve its financial situation, Supply Minister Khaled Hanafy said Saturday. There is a direction taken by the government to list holding companies in the stock market in order to increase its capital and attract investments, Hanafy said. The minister said the listing will help improve the performance of FIHS' subsidies and increase their profits, leading to financial and social benefits to the employees. He further stressed that the public company's public offering does not mean selling it, but rather the use of financial tools to restructure the company's hierarchy. This will result in increasing the efficiency of the administration, and will reflect on the level of services provided to citizens. Hanafy's announcement came after he met with the chairman of the Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX), Mohamed Omran. The Ministry of Petroleum is also conducting studies on its assets portfolio to increase its income and manage its portfolio. Minister of Petroleum Sherif Ismail held negotiations with the EGX chairman on how oil companies can make use of EGX's financial structure. They also discussed ways to provide funds for these companies, without further burdening the state treasury. Recently, several construction companies have shown interested in the Egyptian stock market. Orascom Construction Ltd has officially applied its listing request to the Egyptian Exchange last week. The company's capital is placed at approximately EGP 800m that will be divided between around 105 stocks. Emaar Misr also applied its listing request. Earlier this month, the general assembly of real estate company Palm Hills Developments also approved increasing the company's capital by EGP 1.648bn, from EGP 2.69bn to EGP 4.34bn. The company is planning on issuing 824m shares in the stock market, at EGP 2 per share, in addition to 3.5 piastres as issuance expenses. During 2014, the Egyptian stock market witnessed the largest number of companies listing since 2010, with 13 new companies being listed in the main index and the Nilex index. The capital for the companies listed during the past year amounted to approximately EGP 1.9bn, 10 times more than the capital of companies listed in 2013.
