Lecico Q3 boosted by forex gains Egyptian ceramics company Lecico said third-quarter net profit rose as currency gains helped offset lower sales as tile output was hit by maintenance shutdowns. Net profit in the period was LE 29.5 million ($5.4 million), a 13 percent rise on the same period a year earlier, it said. Lecico, whose company has a significant presence in Britain and France, suffered a sharp decline in profits earlier in the year in part due to falling European currencies. We ve turned a corner from what was a very weak end of last year and a slow start to this year, as with all companies, because of the impact of the financial crisis on markets in Europe and globally, said Lecico s Deputy CEO Taher Gargour. Net sales fell to LE 273.2 million this quarter, compared with LE 295.6 million in the same period last year, driven by a reduction in tile production due to now-completed equipment maintenance, the firm said. The firm made LE 26.2 million in the third quarter of 2008, when currency devaluations in its key export markets hit Lecico s bottom line. However, Lecico, which exports a third of its sanitary ware products including toilets and sinks, said that demand from export markets was strong in the quarter. Currency differentials also improved significantly in the quarter. All this paints quite a positive picture for 2010 from the demand side, he said, although an expected increase in energy prices would add to operational costs, he added. Gargour said the firm would seek to increase efficiency and raise prices, which is not such an easy task given the current global environment. -Reuters Egyptian Gulf Bank s 9-month net profit slips 14 pct Egyptian Gulf Bank said its net profit for the first nine months of 2009 fell 14 percent to LE 71.7 million ($13.1 million). Net profit in the first nine months of 2008 was LE 83.7 million. The bank added provisions of LE 5.85 million during the quarter, down from LE 41.9 million in the 2008 period. Egypt s state-owned Misr Insurance company owns 19 percent of Egyptian Gulf Bank, and private Gulf and Egyptian investors hold other significant stakes. Total assets rose to LE 5.79 billion from LE 5.07 billion at the beginning of 2009, the bank said in a statement released by the Egyptian Exchange on Tuesday. Loans to customers and banks slid LE 2.51 billion from LE 2.67 billion, while customer deposits climbed to LE 4.58 billion from LE 4.38 billion. -Reuters Pioneers eyes stake in Beltone Pioneers Holding is in talks to buy a stake in investment bank Beltone Financial, the stock exchange said on Wednesday. Pioneers confirmed the statement issued by the exchange but the company declined to give details of the deal when contacted by Reuters. Pioneers Holding said there was contact between the company and Beltone for acquiring a percentage of the capital (of Beltone), the exchange statement said, adding that the firms had not reached an agreement. Pioneers shares ended 9 percent higher. -Reuters Bisco Misr revenues drop Bisco Misr saw revenues drop by 18.9 percent in the third quarter of fiscal year 2009 to reach LE 59.1 million versus LE 72.9 million during the same period last year. Net income also declined by 18.2 percent to LE 8.6 million in the third quarter of 2009 versus LE 10.5 million last year. In its daily market report, Beltone Financial said, "An improvement in margins was witnessed as the company s gross profit margin reached 36.8 percent from 28.9 percent the previous year. IDA awards logistics services contract The Industrial Development Authority (IDA) awarded the first contract for a logistics services complex to a Kuwaiti real estate company, Orchid, reported Al-Masry Al-Youm. An area of half a million feddans has been allocated at the Tenth of Ramadan industrial city to establish a zone specialized in providing logistics services, including storage and assembly. The IDA had received offers from five Egyptian and Arab companies to establish storage areas in Tenth of Ramadan, Borg El Arab and Sadat cities, which it had advertised for during the global crisis. Egypt says BP, Eni find half of gas for LNG train BP and Eni SpA have found 2 trillion cubic feet of gas, half of what is needed to start up a new liquefied natural gas train, an executive of state-owned Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) said on Monday. For the second LNG train project, BP and Eni have to find 4 tcf of gas, Atef Abdallah Abdelhady, assistant vice chairman for production at EGAS said. Once the partners find economic quantities, train 2 will start ... they were supposed to find 4 tcf of gas to let this project go ahead, they found 2 (tcf)...let them bring 4. I have commitments towards contracts (exports) and domestic (demand), Abdelhady told Reuters on the sidelines of an oil and gas event in Dammam. BP and Eni SpA had proposed a second LNG train at Damietta with a capacity of around 2 billion cubic meters per year. Last week, Hassan Sabry, a projects and planning official at EGAS said some partners had withdrawn from the project because of the financial crisis. Abdelhady said he was not aware that any of the partners had pulled out. EGAS first announced plans for the second LNG train when it signed with BP and Eni a memorandum of understanding in 2005. Train 2 is delayed because when we said we want to have a second train...the companies were committed to find fields dedicated to train 2...Companies were supposed to say they will (find) new fields for exports, they were late in it, he said. The project, which is now in the drilling phase, will restart once companies finish wells appraisal, Abdelhady said. Egypt s proven natural gas reserves rose to around 77.2 trillion cubic feet in the 2008/09 fiscal year. EGAS was established in 2001 to monitor development phases of 26 gas companies operating in Egypt. Its daily production is around 6,800 million cubic feet per day of gas and 120,000 barrels of condensate. Abdelhady said Egypt started two months ago exporting around 50 million cubic feet per day (cfd) of gas to Lebanon through a pipeline from Jordan to Syria. Egypt exports 200-250 million cfd of natural gas to Jordan, its main export market, Abdelhady said. -Reuters
