Palm Hills posts Q1 profit of $37 mln Palm Hills Development, which began trading on Egypt s stock exchange on Thursday, posted a first-quarter pretax profit of LE 199 million ($37 million) on Monday, Reuters reported. The company, a high-end Egyptian real estate developer, said it had an increasing number of contracted units, with total contract value of LE 930 million, while consolidated net revenue for the period was LE 326 million. Quarterly comparison figures were not available because the company changed the financial reporting year-end from February to December in 2007. But Palm Hills said it had made pretax profit of LE 231 million in the full year to end-December. Palm Hills has seen another period of sustained growth, which builds on our solid sales and project development track record, Palm Hills s Chief Executive Officer Yasseen Mansour said in a statement. He added that excellent economic and demographic fundamentals in Egyptian real estate indicated positive prospects for the company. The firm said its growth was primarily driven by new sales contracts for projects in the greater Cairo area and on Egypt s north coast. US investment bank Goldman Sachs purchased a 5.5 percent stake in Palm Hills Development for an undisclosed sum in March, and said it could increase its stake to 10 percent. -Agencies CIB Q1 net profit jumps 59 pct Commercial International Bank, Egypt s largest lender by market value, said on Monday its net profit rose 58.9 percent to LE 422.9 million ($78.9 million). The bank said last year it was in talks to merge with Cairo-based Arab African International Bank. -Agencies GSMA presents Egypt with Government Leadership Award According to a report on Itp.net, the GSM Association presented its Government Leadership Award 2008 to Egypt in recognition of the steps taken by regulators to encourage the growth of the mobile communications sector. The award was presented to Minister of Communications and Information Technology Tarek Kamel by Rob Conway, CEO and board member of the GSMA. The award is presented for exceptional work by governments in guiding mobile communications policy and regulation. The GSMA noted the growth in subscribers in Egypt, which grew by 10 million for the 12 months to the end of March this year, taking penetration rates from 29 percent to 43 percent. Suez Canal revenues rise to $449 mln for April Revenues from the Suez Canal rose to $448.9 million in April 2008 from $365.5 million in the same month last year, the government said on Monday according to a Reuters report. The number of vessels passing through the waterway rose to 1,712 in April from 1,699 in March and from 1,657 in April 2007, the report said. -Agencies Lafarge to sell its half stake in Egypt s Lafarge-Titan The world s largest cement firm Lafarge announced the sale of its 50 percent stake in Lafarge Titan in Egypt to its joint venture partner Titan, for ?330 million (including debt of around ?20 million). Lafarge Titan Egypt was created in 1999 as a 50/50 joint venture between Lafarge and the Greek group Titan, and owns two cement plants in Egypt - in Alexandria and Beni Suef - with a total capacity of 3.1 million tons. Since the acquisition of Orascom Cement, Lafarge is present in Egypt through the control of Egyptian Cement Company, which has a plant with a capacity of 10 million tons. Lafarge also operates 11 readymix concrete plants and 3 aggregates quarries in the country. -Agencies UAE pumps $4 billion in Egypt s tourism sector The UAE has pumped $4 billion into the vibrant Egyptian tourism sector, accounting for 30 percent of total Arab tourism investment in Egypt, a senior Egyptian official has disclosed. Quoting figures by Egyptian Tourism Development Authority, First Assistant of Egyptian Tourism Minister Hisham Zazo told reporters on Wednesday at the sideline of the ongoing Arab Travel Market in Dubai that the tourism sector contributes 11.3 percent to Egypt s gross domestic product and 19.3 percent to the total foreign currency income. Egypt plan s to attract 14 million holidaymakers and boost hotel capacity to 240,000 rooms by 2011, he added. He added that Arab tourists visiting Egypt rose to 1.9 million last year from 1.3 million in 2003 and revenues from them jumped to $2.2 billion from $2.2 billion for the same period. The number of UAE tourists visiting Egypt surged to 52,400 in 2007 from 32,000 in 2003, he indicated. Bank of Alexandria net up 58 pct in Q1 2007 The Bank of Alexandria, a subsidiary of Italy s Intesa Sanpaolo, said its net profit rose 58 percent in the first quarter of 2008 to LE 323.3 million ($60.3 million). Net profit in the January-March quarter of 2007 was LE 204.8 million, it said in a statement published on Tuesday. Shareholders share of profit for the quarter was 0.81 pounds a share, compared to 0.51 pounds a share for the same period of 2007, it added. Sanpaolo bought 80 percent of the bank from the Egyptian government in October 2006 for $1.6 billion. The bank will hold an initial public offering of 15 percent of its shares on the Egyptian stock exchange in the second half of 2008, Chairman Mahmoud Abdel-Latif said in April. The IPO had initially been expected to take place in the fourth quarter of 2007. -Agencies
