Egypt Kuwait Holding says 08 profit up 28 pct EgyptianKuwait Holding revised its earnings upwards, saying its profit grew 28 percent in 2008, according to a statement on Egypt s stock exchange website. The company had previously reported an 11 percent growth in 2008 earnings. The statement did not give further details. The company is the main investment arm of Kuwait s Al Kharafi Group in Egypt. It invests in sectors such as fertilizers, oil and gas, insurance, building materials and tourism. -Reuters Egypt Aluminium 6-month net profit falls 30 pct Egypt Aluminium s net profit for the six months to the end of December fell around 30 percent to LE 317.7 million ($57.1 million), the stock exchange said on Wednesday. The Egyptian state owns more than 90 percent of Egypt Aluminium and has said it had no immediate plans to reduce its stake. -Reuters Orascom Telecom says buyback cut into tranches Regional mobile operator Orascom Telecom will proceed with its latest share buyback program, but will do so in tranches to avoid having to set a fixed price, a company official said on Thursday. Cairo-based OT said last week that it was seeking to buy back up to 65 million shares representing 7.2 percent of its issued shares across the next three months. But the stock exchange said on Thursday the company was seeking to buy back a maximum of just 27.3 million shares in the same time frame. It is just as we announced, no changes to our plans. It s just really a clarification to respect the CMA (Capital Market Authority) rules, an OT company official who declined to be named told Reuters, to explain the apparent change. The official said Egypt s Capital Market Authority had told the company a buyback of more than 5 percent of a company s outstanding shares had to take place through a public fixed price tender. Obviously this is not our intention; it s an opportunistic on-market buyback that we announced, the official said. We will continue to apply for the renewal of the (buyback) application with the CMA every time it expires, the official added. He said that Thursday s announcement allows us the possibility to do it on-market without a fixed-price tender. -Reuters Centamin Egypt up on Sukari resource upgrades Shares in Centamin Egypt rise 5 percent after the gold miner releases resource upgrades for its Sukari gold project, prompting Ambrian to repeat its buy rating and 57 pence target price. This continues the pattern of regular uplifts every few months, says Ambrian in a note. The broker says commissioning remains on track for second quarter 2009 and key blasting permits were awarded in December ahead of mining start-up in the first quarter of 2009, adding that following its recent equity raise there should be sufficient funds available to enable early start-up of underground development. -Reuters European Commission announces ?149 mln aid to Egypt The European Union (EU) will offer an aid package of ?149 million ($194 million) to Egypt for education, transport, public services and civil society programs, the European Commission announced on Thursday. Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the EU Commissioner for External Relations, made the announcement during a meeting with visiting Egyptian Health Minister Hatem El-Gabaly. The aid package is within the 2008 Annual Action Program under the European Neighborhood and Partnership Instrument, with the focus to be on education, reforms in the transport sector, improvement of the water and sewage systems and support for the civil society. This financial package clearly underscores the commission s strong support for Egypt s social, political and economic reform agenda. I am very pleased to have discussed today with Minister El-Gabaly the progress of reforms in the Egyptian health sector which we have been supporting for many years, Ferrero-Waldner said. According to the commissioner, the commission is also preparing a new program for 2009, which will include ?110 million of aid ($143 million) to support the Egyptian government s primary health care reforms. During their meeting, Ferrero-Waldner and El-Gabaly also discussed the difficult situation in Gaza. I welcomed the swift action taken by Egypt to help the injured in the recent hostilities, as well as their efficiency in helping to coordinate the international humanitarian effort. At the same time I express again my full support for the valuable Egyptian efforts to achieve inner-Palestinian reconciliation. I am looking forward to the conference on Gaza which Egypt has taken the initiative to host in Cairo on March 2, she said. Egypt-focused telecoms to outperform in 09: EFG-Hermes EFG-Hermes expects Egypt-focused telecoms and large-cap banks to continue to outperform in 2009 and said it continues to favor stocks with high dividend and free cash flow yields. The investment bank said telecom companies Telecom Egypt and Mobinil offer good earnings visibility and free cash flow generation. Commercial International Bank (CIB) and National Societe Generale Bank have been conservative in their lending to date and are well provisioned, it said. EFG said pharmaceutical company Egyptian International Pharmaceutical Industries Co has proven ability to maintain strong margins, while gas exploration company Maridive & Oil Services should generate reliable earnings if oil prices stay above $30 per barrel. -Reuters
