CAIRO - Egypt's Oriental Weavers, the world's largest machine-woven carpet maker, said on Tuesday it would issue bonus shares and increase its capital by 21 percent to 450 million Egyptian pounds. A spokesman said the move would boost liquidity and bolster the group's balance sheet given its high reserves. Shareholders would receive 0.2 shares for every one held as of the close of trade on July 28, with the shares distributed the following day, the company said in an advertisement in Al-Ahram newspaper. The increase would be financed from retained earnings and distributed over 15.4 million shares. Oriental Weavers' first-quarter net profit fell 9.7 per cent to 97.1 million Egyptian pounds. The firm's shares were trading 1 per cent higher at 1012 GMT, while the main index was down 0.7 per cent.
