Bank of Alexandria supports SMEsThe Bank of Alexandria signed an agreement with the International Financial Institution - a member of the World Bank - to provide technological support for SMEs in Egypt, Al-Ahram reported. SMEs represent 80 percent of the country's value added and 75 percent of its non-agricultural private sector workforce, said CI Capital in its daily notes. "SMEs are gaining more strength in an effort to support the economy and mitigate the drop in FDI inflows as a result of the global economic crisis. Finance is a major obstacle in SMEs development and facilitating their access to finance is seen as vital to their growth. Alcotexa sells 333.5 T cotton in past week Egypt's Alexandria Cotton Exporters' Association (Alcotexa) committed to sell 333.5 tons of cotton in the week that ended on April 17, an Alcotexa official told Reuters on Sunday. The sales comprised 23.5 tons of Giza 87, 92 tons of Giza 88, 50 tons of Giza 80 and 168 tons of Giza 86, the official said. The deal brings Alcotexa's export commitments for the 2009/10 season, which began in September, to 67,878.8 tons of cotton worth $156.9 million, the official said. Egypt expects to export 80,000 tons of cotton this season, the agriculture minister said in February. -Reuters Mubasher blogs link investors, financial expertsMubasher.info, an online portal covering Arab financial markets, launched a new site called "Mubasher Blogs, which will regularly upload financial market theories, trends, analyses and recommendations posted by financial experts and government officials. The new service can be viewed by Arab investors and other interested parties at Mubasher.info is part of the real-time stock market information and online trading services provider Mubasher, a subsidiary of the National Technology Group (NTG). Mubasher Blogs provide a platform for investors to access information that can assist in making investment decisions. Contributors will manage their own blogs and respond personally to queries and comments. The service facilitates direct communication with financial analysts through open online workshops focusing on a diverse range of issues and discussing the performance of the Arab and international markets. Mubasher.info provides instant information on stock market exchange and activities across the financial markets of Egypt, the KSA, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Muscat, Bahrain, Jordan, Palestine, Iraq and Beirut in both Arabic and English. CI Capital sees Mobinil 2010Q1 earnings at LE 595 mlnIn a recent report, CI Capital predicted that Mobinil's first quarter 2010 revenues to grow by 5 percent from the previous quarter to LE 2,931 million, an 18 percent annual increase.The firm also expects subscribers to reach 26.1 million, up 23 percent from the previous year. CI Capital added that according to the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, the number of mobile phone subscribers in Egypt rose by 1 percent or 642,000 month-on-month to 56.49 million in February 2010.According to the report, effective March 1st, 2010, Egypt's mobile operators disconnected mobile lines operating on smuggled Chinese handsets with identical serial numbers to those of original handsets.Furthermore, CI Capital believes that, disconnected lines took place mostly amongst low-income users who are the target market for cheaper Chinese handsets. As a result, the expected net impact on Mobinil would be minimal. -Arab Finance HDB postpones closing date for subscription Housing and Development of Egypt said that the shareholders who have not waived their rights to the subscription of the bank's capital increase have the right to subscribe in the increase, maintaining their ownership stake in the bank's capital. In a statement, HDB said the subscription closing date for the existing shareholders' tranche will be on April 29 instead of April 22 and will be May 13 instead of May 6 for the new shareholders' tranche. HDB is increasing its capital from LE 670 million to LE 1.15 billion through the offering of 45 million shares to the bank's existing and new shareholders at LE 20.25. Some of the bank's existing shareholders have waived their right to subscribe in the capital increase, and their share is equivalent to 27.4 million shares of the 45 million offered shares. Petroleum minister to revise energy subsidiesA senior government official indicated that the Prime Minister has asked the Minister of Petroleum to present several scenarios involving a reduction in subsidies on energy products within one month for review by the Cabinet, reported Al-Masry Al-Youm. The objective of the request is to reduce the size of energy subsidies, which are expected to reach LE 62 billion in the fiscal year, around 80 percent of total subsides in the budget. Diesel is currently subsidized by LE 17.5 billion, or 52 percent of energy subsidies, butane gas by LE 7.7 billion or 23 percent of energy subsidies, gasoline by LE 5.7 billion or 17 percent of energy subsidies and natural gas by LE 1.6 billion or 4.6 percent of total energy subsidies, according to the newspaper as cited by Beltone Financials daily market report. "We believe that such a decision will be taken as soon as the political and social situation is conducive, with the latest date following the November 2011 presidential elections, said Beltone. "A shortage in energy products and a rise in energy subsidies could, however, lead to an increase in energy products prior to that date, if the government decides that the impact on inflation would be contained. The government is already planning to raise the prices of natural gas and electricity for non-energy intensive industries in July 2010. The move is not expected to have a significant impact on companies in these industries, but could raise average annual headline inflation from 11 percent to 13 percent.
