Mobinil says Q4 profit up 25 percent Mobinil, Egypt s largest mobile operator by subscribers, said on Sunday its fourth-quarter profit grew 25 percent to LE 551 ($99 million), beating analysts forecasts. Investment bank EFG-Hermes had forecast a profit of LE 526 million, Beltone Financial estimated LE 372 million, and CI Capital Research predicted LE 448.6 million. The company said it had 20.115 million subscribers, up 33 percent from the number of subscribers at the end of 2007. Revenue was up 24 percent in the quarter at LE 2.644 billion. But the firm said average revenue per user had declined, in part due to its push into lower value markets. Mobinil also said it had paid LE 62 million in the quarter for 3G installment payments. The company s shares ended Sunday s session down 2.79 percent at LE 132, before the results were announced. -Reuters Alexandria Mineral Oils H1 profit dips 22 pct Egypt s Alexandria Mineral Oils Company (AMOC) made a first half net profit of LE 302.2 million ($54.3 million), a 22 percent decrease on the same period last year, the stock exchange said on Sunday. The stock was removed from the benchmark CASE 30 index in the stock exchange s semi-annual rejig last week, which came into effect on Feb. 1. At 1105 GMT shares in AMOC were trading 2.5 percent lower at LE 44.50 in low volumes. Out of 86 million listed shares, just over 17 million are freely traded. In the first quarter, the oil products company posted a 25 percent rise in net profit. -Reuters Orascom Telecom decides against buying own shares Egypt s Orascom Telecom failed to purchase any of the more than 23 million of its own shares it sought in the last three months, the stock exchange said on Sunday. The statement said the firm had sought 23,592,074 shares in the period from Nov. 2 to Jan. 30, but had not executed any orders for the shares. It gave no further details. -Reuters PPI down 4 pct Egypt s producer price index fell 4.87 percent in December to 136.8 from 143.8 in November. The figure was down from 137.2 in December last year, the Egypt s Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) said on its website. Oriental Weavers to cut some export prices Oriental Weavers, the world s biggest machine-woven carpet producer, will cut prices on exports to the United States and eastern Europe by around 10 to 15 percent to boost market share. Declining oil prices had reduced the cost of polypropylene, the company s main raw material, investor relations manager Haitham Abdel Moneim said on Thursday, and Oriental Weavers saw an opportunity to reduce prices as an incentive to buyers. Abdel Moneim added the group was seeking a larger share of those markets in light of the fact that some competitors had withdrawn from the market, but gave no further details. Oriental Weavers said late last year that it would delay construction of a LE 1.3 billion ($233.5 million) industrial complex from mid-2009 to 2010 because of the global financial crisis. But the company said it had not seen any decline in its growth rate, productivity, or sales. -Reuters Kabo buys regional rights to Jil trademark El Nasr Clothes and Textiles (Kabo) said on Thursday it had bought the regional rights to the Jil trademark from Jil International for around LE 22 million ($3.95 million). In a statement to the stock exchange, the firm said the fee would be paid over 12 months starting from February. Kabo would gain the right to use or license the use of the Jil trademark in Egypt and Arab and African countries, which the company said would generate revenues for the firm. The company said in September it had made a net loss of LE 10.54 million in the first half of 2008, but gave no reason for the decline. -Reuters Egypt M2 growth at slowest in 8 yrs as economy cools Egyptian money supply posted its slowest annual growth in more than eight years on Thursday, suggesting inflation in the most populous Arab country would continue to fall as the economy slows. Money supply as measured by M2 grew 10.49 percent in December compared to the same month of the previous year, reaching LE 791.377 billion ($142 billion). It was the fourth consecutive month that M2, Egypt s broadest measure of money supply and an indicator of future inflation, declined and its slowest rate of growth since September 2000. Urban inflation in Egypt fell to an eight-month low in December and Egypt s statistics agency has said it expects inflation to fall again in January. We were already expecting inflation to be lower in January and this confirms that, said Reham ElDesoki, senior economist at Cairo-based Beltone Financial. Beltone has said Egypt s central bank could cut interest rates by 50 to 100 basis points, its first cut in more than three years, when it meets in February. - Reuters
