Stock market-listed Elsaeed Contracting and Real Estate Investment Company announced on Sunday a 122.9% hike in net profits, registering EGP 71.5m in the first half (1H) of 2015. The latest results from the company show a rise on the same period in 2014, when it registered net profits of EGP 32.07m. The company's gross profits recorded EGP 125m in the same period, compared to EGP 36.69m in the corresponding period last year. On a quarterly basis, the company has achieved EGP 62.25m in Q2 of 2015, compared to EGP 15.26m in Q2 of 2014. Elsaeed Contracting saw a slump in net profits in Q1 of 2015, marking EGP 9.3bn, down from EGP 16.8bn in the same quarter of 2014. Elsaeed Contracting provides general and specialised contracting and construction services, and operates in three sectors, namely contracting, gravel quarries and real estate. The company describes itself as focusing on real estate activities such as purchase and sale of land, building units, touristic villages, land reclamation and cultivation. Elsaeed is also operating in the industrial and services sector as well as commercial agencies. In order to stimulate the real estate sector, Minister of Housing Mostafa Madbouly has decided to double the budget of the New Urban Communities Authority (NUCA) for fiscal year (FY) 2015/2016 to EGP 28bn. The budget increase will be directed towards increasing partnerships with the private sector to help implement a significant amount of the authority's projects.
