Trading on construction company Emaar Misr's shares started Sunday, and, despite starting the day with gains, the benchmark index EGX-30 declined by 1.16% to reach 8218.25 points. Egypt has been witnessing political turbulence in the past week after the assassination of Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat and the militant attacks on army checkpoints in North Sinai. The EGX-70, the index encompassing small- and medium-sized enterprises declined by 0.85%, while the broader index EGX-100 declined by 0.84%. The trading day closed with 84 decliners, 32 gainers and 34 unchanged. In February 2015, the EGX announced that Emaar Misr formally requested listing its shares on the stock market.The company offered 600m shares, around 13% of the company's capital, with the total value of EGP 2.3bn. Around 85% of the shares were offered publicly while the remaining 15% were offered to institutions at EGP 3.8. The firm's current issued capital was evaluated at EGP 4.019bn, and with the increase it is set to reach EGP 4.619bn. "Record coverage of 36x for this offering is a clear demonstration of rising investor confidence not only in the company's performance and overall market conditions, but also in the potential of the Egyptian economy," said EGX Chairman Mohamed Omran. "The Emaar Misr offering has witnessed the largest oversubscription level in Egypt since the global financial crisis." Omran added that since June 2013, some EGP 21bn in equity has been raised. During the first quarter (Q1) of 2015, the construction company recorded a 462% increase in profits, with its net profits totaling EGP 172.7m. During the same quarter last year, the company's profits amounted to EGP 30.7m. Emaar Misr identifies itself as "the largest foreign direct investor in Egypt's real estate sector, with an investment portfolio of EGP 53bn". The company's land portfolio is about 15.4m sqms, with four projects that include Uptown Cairo, Marassi, Mivida, and Cairo Gate.
