AMOC to pay LE 8.5 dividend Alexandria Mineral Oils Company (AMOC) said on Monday it would pay a cash dividend of LE 8.50 ($1.59) a share, in two phases. Shareholders on Sept. 11 will be eligible for the dividend, of which LE 7.50 will be paid on Sept. 16 and the remaining LE 1 on Feb. 17, 2009, the company said. In July the company, which produces refined petroleum products, reported a net profit of LE 917.9 million in the financial year ended June 30, 5.8 percent up on the previous year. Shares in AMOC were trading 1.5 percent higher at LE 71.65 pounds a share by 11:45 am. - Reuters Raya says H1 net profit falls 52 pct Raya Technology and Communication reported a 52 percent drop in net profit for the first half of 2008 to LE 31.05 million ($5.8 million), the stock exchange said on Monday. The stock exchange gave no further details. Shares in Raya were trading 2.6 percent lower at LE 8.88 per share by 11:05 am. - Reuters Kuwait Invest sells brokerage stake to EFG-Hermes Kuwait Invest Holding Co said on Monday it sold a 50 percent stake in a brokerage unit to EFG-Hermes, Egypt s largest investment bank by market value, for 33.4 million dinars ($124.4 million). EFG-Hermes said in a statement the unit, Offset Holding KSC, owns 90 percent of Gulf Financial Brokerage Company, which has a 26 percent market share in Kuwait. Under the agreement, EFG-Hermes will assume the management and operation of Offset Holding and Gulf Financial, which will operate under the brand name EFG-Hermes IFA, the statement said. With no new brokerage licenses being offered for sale in Kuwait on the Kuwaiti market and no foreseeable change to the regulatory environment, there is substantial scarcity value in acquiring interests in a Kuwaiti brokerage firm, EFG-Hermes Chief Executive Officer Hassan Heikal said in a statement. The firm said Gulf Financial Brokerage made a net profit of 2.9 million Kuwaiti dinars in the first six months of 2008. Kuwait Invest made a net profit of 16.1 million dinars from the sale, which will be booked in the third quarter, it said in a statement on the Kuwait bourse website. EFG-Hermes operates in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, LebanonOman and now Kuwait. ($1=0.2684 dinar) -Reuters Panmure says EFG-Hermes to take 9.97 pct stake Britain s Panmure Gordon & Co Plc said on Monday EFG-Hermes, Egypt s largest investment bank by market value, had agreed to subscribe for 9.97 percent of the stockbroker. EFG-Hermes has subscribed for around 6.7 million new shares for cash at 47 pence a share. Panmure shares closed at 46.5p on Friday. The markets we operate in are becoming more international and the opportunities available through a business relationship with EFG-Hermes are compelling, Panmure Chairman Tony Caplin said in a statement. The ability to access EFG-Hermes clients for our UK and US research and investment banking products is exciting and will give us a major competitive advantage, he added. EFG-Hermes said in a separate statement it would pay LE 3.16 million ($5.92 million) for the shares which it said gives it a stake of 9.06 percent post dilution. - Reuters Orascom Telecom sets new share buyback Mobile operator Orascom Telecom said on Monday it would buy back up to 8.9 million GDRs or 44.9 million ordinary shares over the next 12 months. The shares, with a current market value of about LE 2.4 billion, represent 4.4 percent of the company s total capital, according to stock exchange data. It will be the company s third buyback program this year. In the previous two it bought from the market and then cancelled 128.7 million shares in a capital reduction operation. At the time of the earlier buybacks, the company said it had a large cash surplus and could not find attractive alternative investments. In a statement on Monday, the company said it intended to keep assessing opportunities to buy its own shares. Shares in the company were down 1.6 percent at LE 53.93 pounds at 12:40 pm on Monday, compared with a decline of 1.2 percent in the benchmark CASE 30 index. Egyptian Resorts giving one-for-four stock dividend Egyptian Resorts Company will distribute a stock dividend of one share for four on Aug. 28, Egypt s stock exchange said on Monday. The dividend, with a nominal value of LE 210 million ($39.4 million), will raise the company s issued capital to LE 1.05 billion from 840 million, according to Reuters data. The company, which has large land holdings on the Red Sea coast, made net profit of LE 141.85 million in the first half of 2008, 31.2 percent down on the same period of 2007. Abu Bakr Makhlouf, the company s investor relations director, said the decline came as Egyptian Resorts started paying taxes in January 2008 after a tax break. Shares in the company fell 1.8 percent by 12:18 pm, compared with a decline of 1.1 percent for the benchmark index CASE30. - Reuters Egypt s ASEC Mining investing in Ethiopia Egyptian company ASEC Mining said on Monday it was taking a 20 percent stake in a new company that will produce cement in Ethiopia. In a statement released through the Egyptian stock exchange, it said the Ethiopian venture, in conjunction with ASEC Cement, would be the company s first investment in cement production. It said the unnamed Ethiopian company would have a capital of $100,000 and would build and run cement plants, own limestone quarries, and export clinker and other products. -Reuters Helwan Cement H1 net up 65 percent Helwan Cement made net profit of LE 318.6 million ($59.7 million) in the first six months of 2008, 65 percent up on the same period of last year, the stock exchange said on Monday. -Reuters
