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DUBAI: Islamic derivatives are still struggling to gain traction in the Gulf, six months after the launch of a much-touted over-the-counter contract aimed at creating a standard legal framework for hedging products. Experts said the contract, known as the Tahawwut Master Agreement, in theory provides Islamic institutions with a simpler template for risk management that …
Egypt’s central bank left its key overnight interest rates unchanged on Thursday despite this week’s surprise rise in core inflation, a decision in line with forecasts of all 11 economists polled by Reuters. The central bank maintained its lending rate at 9.75 percent and its borrowing rate at 8.25 percent, the bank said on its …
A group of leading Saudi importers has purchased 360,000 tons of optional origin barley for Oct. shipment and another 265,000 tons of Ukrainian origin for Sept. shipment, trade sources said on Friday. They said 360,000 tons of optional origin barley were purchased in the last few days by several private Saudi buyers from international suppliers …
CAIRO: HC Research cut Egypt’s Ezz Steel’s share-price target by 11 percent, citing lack of clarity on iron ore prices and scrap price volatility. The brokerage, which cut its price target on the stock to LE 23.5, also lowered earnings estimates for Egypt’s largest steelmaker. HC Research said it saw a slowdown in local demand …
Egyptian telecoms tycoon Naguib Sawiris, owner of Weather Investments, said on Thursday he had put in a binding bid for Greece’s Wind Hellas, his latest effort to keep control of the Greek operator. Sawiris currently owns the Greek firm through Weather Investments, which also owns another Wind-branded company in Italy and just over half of …
DUBAI: FTSE Group added the United Arab Emirates as a "secondary" emerging market within its global equity index series, which the index provider says is the first time the country has been added in a global equity universe. UAE and other Gulf states such as Qatar are generally classified as "frontier" markets, a classification seen …
CAIRO: Egypt’s Prime Minister is forming a committee to preserve the rights of citizens and investors in Talaat Moustafa’s (TMGMadinaty project, the state news agency said on Wednesday. Egypt’s High Administrative Court on Tuesday upheld a ruling that a housing ministry body broke the law by selling the land without putting it up for public …
GB Auto, Egypt’s biggest listed automobile assembler, will pay a LE 3.09 ($0.54) dividend on Oct. 3, it announced in a newspaper advertisement on Wednesday. The dividend will be paid to investors owning shares as of Sept. 30. The company’s second-quarter net profit surged 92 percent from a year earlier, bolstered mainly by an extended …
Another Transocean Ltd rig is leaving the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, still under contract with Statoil — the fourth rig departure resulting from a moratorium on US deepwater drilling. The world’s largest offshore drilling contractor said on Tuesday the Discoverer Americas would leave next week, becoming its second rig to depart the region since the …
The Egyptian pound reached 5.7062 to the dollar, its weakest since January 2007, likely pushed down by demand for dollars among importers after the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, traditionally a slow time for imports, a trader said. The central bank may also have provided dollars to the market to support the pound, a trader …
TOKYO: State-run Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp (JOGMEC) bought Saudi Arab Extra Light crude for Japan’s national reserves from Showa Shell Sekiyu via a tender, industry sources said on Wednesday. JOGMEC, which had sought 1.25 million barrels of Middle East light crude through the tender, bought the 1.25 million barrels of the Saudi …
DUBAI: Unrated companies in the Gulf Arab region have $67 billion in outstanding debt and may seek to issue conventional or Islamic bonds or structured-finance instruments to extend maturities, ratings agency Moody’s said. Out of the total debt pile, the proportion of short-term debt for unrated firms stands at over 28 percent, the ratings agency …
Egyptian developer Nasr City Housing posted a 25 percent fall in full-year net profit, the bourse said on Tuesday. The formerly state-run company, now about 30 percent owned by Beltone Financial’s private equity arm, posted a net profit of LE 86.3 million ($15 million) for the year to end-June. Nasr City shares closed 1.8 percent …
CAIRO: Egypt’s High Administrative Court on Tuesday rejected two appeals against a lower court’s decision in a land case involving property developer Talaat Moustafa Group’s (TMG) flagship project Madinaty. The lower court ruled in June that the New Urban Communities Authority, a Housing Ministry body, broke the law when it sold land directly to a …
JOHANNESBURG: Abu Dhabi financial services firm Invest AD and Japan’s SBI Holdings launched a $100 million Africa fund on Monday, the latest push into the poorest continent’s fast-growing frontier markets. The new fund, jointly capitalized by the government-owned Middle Eastern group and the Japanese financial services conglomerate, would invest in Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt, Tunisia and …
Miner Centamin Egypt said it cut its gold output guidance for 2010 by 15-20 percent due to a number of production problems at its Sukari operation, pulling its shares down 12 percent. The company expects to produce 160-170,000 ounces of gold, revised down from the original target of 200,000 ounces. The London-listed shares fell 12 …
Egyptian textiles company Arab Cotton Ginning posted net profit of LE 205 million ($36 million) for the fiscal year to the end of June, the stock exchange said on Monday. The firm made a net profit of LE 29 million for the same period a year earlier. The stock exchange statement did not provide further …
Vimpelcom may issue new preferred shares to public investors as well as to Naguib Sawiris’ Weather to gain support for its possible acquisition of the Egyptian tycoon’s assets, two sources told Reuters. A source close to Vimpelcom’s board said its corporate governance committee had "generally agreed" on the idea of issuing preferred shares to public …
Foreign direct investment in Egypt fell 16 percent for the fiscal year 2009/10, pulled lower by slowing inflows to the oil and gas sector, the Investment Ministry said on Monday. Foreign investment in the twelve months to the end of June was $6.8 billion, down from $8.1 billion in the same period a year earlier, …
CAIRO: Egyptian transport officials including the transport minister will visit France next week to discuss potential investment in subway, rail and other transport projects, the state news agency said on Saturday. Egypt, faced with a growing population and public discontent after a series of fatal rail, road and sea accidents, is eager to upgrade its …
Egyptian garment maker El Nasr Clothing & Textile Co. (Kabo) reported a net loss for the year to the end of June of LE 13.3 million ($2.3 million), the stock exchange said on Wednesday. The firm made a net loss of LE 7.2 million in the same period a year earlier, the exchange added. Kabo …
Egyptian tycoon Naguib Sawiris said on Thursday he was committed to the Italian telecoms market, amid speculation that Russian group Vimpelcom Ltd was in talks to buy assets from him. Banking sources have said Vimpelcom is in talks to buy Wind, Italy’s No. 3 mobile operator, and 51 percent of Egyptian group Orascom Telecom from …
Egypt will offer within days to lease 50,000 feddans (53,800 acres) for agri-business projects in North Sinai, the irrigation minister said on Thursday. The most populous Arab country said in April it would offer about 100,000 acres for agri-business in North Sinai on a 49-year lease but only to domestic investors. Under the 1979 peace …
Egypt’s Trade Ministry plans to tender 500 million square meters of land for specialized trade zones next month, part of a plan to boost internal trade and lure more investment, the state news agency reported. The eight zones, located in six governorates, are expected to attract about LE 750 million ($132 million) worth of investments, …
PARIS: A Paris imam and part-time inventor has created a portable mosque to help the faithful concentrate better on their prayers wherever they are. Named the Mirhbox, the 2 meter high structure when deployed takes the form of a mirhab, a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the direction of Mecca, which …
Egypt’s Orascom Development will build two Four Seasons-branded hotels, one in an Egyptian resort and the other in Oman, by second-half 2011 for a total investment of $245 million, a newspaper said on Wednesday. One hotel will be in the Red Sea resort of El-Gouna, with a capacity of 150 rooms and 60 villas. It …
A unit of Egypt’s Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) won a $675 million contract to build an additional phase of Doha Convention Center and Tower in Qatar, further expanding in the Gulf Arab state. The contract was awarded to Six Construct Qatar — which is fully owned by Besix Group, itself a 50-50 venture between OCI …
Egypt is studying setting up a company with China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec) to provide oil services in Egypt, the Middle East and Africa, Egypt’s state news agency cited its oil minister as saying. Drilling has been an important area of cooperation between Egypt and China, which jointly established the SinoTharwa Drilling Company in …
Russia’s Vimpelcom would not be obliged to buy out minority shareholders in Orascom Telecom (OT) should it purchase a stake in the Egyptian firm, a local paper on Wednesday quoted an Egyptian official as saying. Any deal between Vimpelcom and OT would be completed outside Egypt and hence it would be difficult to implement such …
CAIRO: Egypt’s balance of payments swung sharply into surplus in the financial year to end-June as portfolio investments in the country surged, the central bank said on Monday. The strong figures, which indicate the government is in a solid position to defend the Egyptian pound exchange rate, reflect solid Suez Canal revenue, tourism and remittances …
