ISMAILIA: The Suez Canal last week earned its highest daily revenue since the 2008 financial crisis triggered a world trade slump, the canal authority said on Sunday, citing a recovering economy and canal improvements. The canal is an important source of foreign currency for Egypt, along with tourism, oil and gas exports and remittances from …

CAIRO: Egypt’s El Sewedy Cables reported a 53 percent jump in second-quarter net profit on Monday after it took business from rivals weakened by the global economic slowdown. Sewedy, the Arab world’s biggest maker by market value of cables used in power transmission and telecoms, said net profit rose to LE 270.1 million ($47.4 million) …

LONDON: Global corporate mergers and acquisitions activity involving sovereign wealth funds rose to more than $12 billion in the second quarter with 33 deals completed, Thomson Reuters data showed on Monday. Global announced M&A volumes involving state investment vehicles stood at $12.5 billion in the second quarter, up from just $1.1 billion in the first …

CAIRO: Egyptian financial services firm Pioneers Holding posted an 86.5 percent decline in H1 net income to LE 10.5 million ($1.84 million), the stock exchange said on Sunday. Net income was 77.5 million pounds in the same period a year ago.

CAIRO: Real estate firm Egyptian Resorts’ net profit plunged by more than 90 percent in the first six months of 2010, the bourse said on Sunday, after the company failed to sell any land. But analysts said the company’s profit could recover as soon as next year thanks to new management and a partnership to …

AMMAN: A Jordanian plane carrying 3.5 tonnes of food and medical supplies left for Pakistan on Sunday to help aid millions of people hit by devastating floods, an official said. "The plane also carries a 25-member medical team, including nine doctors, as well as 21,000 typhoid and cholera vaccines," Brigadier Mohammad Mheisen of Jordan’s Royal …

CAIRO: Egypt’s Misr Beni Suef Cement posted a 4 percent fall in net profit to LE 193.5 million ($33.9 million) for the first half of 2010, the stock exchange said on Sunday. The company, which gave no further details on its results, had made a net profit of LE 201.3 million in the same period …

CAIRO: The first appeal hearing of the Maadi ferry case Saturday, which left nine girls dead, two missing and three injured, was adjourned to Sept. 4. Islamist lawyer Montasser Al-Zayyat joined the team representing defendant Ali Eweis, the 18-year-old who rented out his older brother’s small boat to15 school girls and their supervisors on July …

The Egyptian pound has again tested chart support against the dollar at 5.70 in line with the global trend to dump riskier assets on concern over the fragile US economy. This was a negative surprise to some investors who have been buying Egyptian T-bills in the last few weeks in the belief that the pound …

Telecoms group Vimpelcom Ltd may buy Italy’s No.3 mobile operator Wind and 51 percent of Egypt’s Orascom Telecom from tycoon Naguib Sawiris, Kommersant reported on Thursday citing an unnamed source. The acquisition would mark a major expansion for the newly created entity, formed earlier this year through a merger of Russia’s number two mobile operator …

GB Auto said on Monday its second-quarter net profit surged 92 percent to LE 77.7 million ($13.7 million), exceeding analyst forecast. The firm, Egypt’s biggest listed automobile assembler, said net profit was LE 40.4 million in the same quarter a year earlier. Investment bank EFG-Hermes had forecast the firm’s net profit at LE 71 million, …

Egypt-based private equity firm Citadel Capital said on Monday a company in which it is an investor had secured $2.6 billion in financing for a refinery project in the Cairo area. The Egyptian Refining Company, in which Citadel said it had a stake of more than 8 percent, signed the loan to finance construction of …

CAIRO: With its cooler temperatures but more sizzling entertainment, Egypt has long been a prime destination for rich Arab tourists, especially from the Gulf states. This year, however, the authorities fear that the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which starts on Wednesday at the height of the annual tourist season, will mean that many potential …

KUWAIT: Kuwaiti telecom firm Zain said it received $295.4 million from India’s Bharti Airtel as part of the sale of its African assets. In June, Zain and Bharti closed a $9 billion deal for the Kuwaiti firm’s African assets excluding Sudan and Morocco. Zain had received $7.87 billion after the closing, and said it would …

DOHA: Industries Qatar will be in focus on Thursday after its second-quarter results beat analysts’ forecasts. The Gulf’s second-largest chemical producer by market value made a second-quarter net profit of 1.4 billion riyals ($384.7 million). Analysts polled by Reuters had expected an average quarterly profit of 1.16 billion riyals. "The strong half-yearly net profits can …

KUWAIT: Trading in Kuwait’s logistics firm Agility was halted on Thursday on a media report that U.S. prosecutors were going to drop fraud charges against it. The bourse did not mention the report in its brief statement, but Al-Watan daily quoted the Middle East Economic Digest (MEED) magazine as saying the company said U.S. prosecutors …

Emami Ltd., an Indian maker of health-care products endorsed by Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan, will build its first overseas factories in Egypt and Bangladesh to meet demand for soaps, ointments and creams. The company based in Kolkata plans to spend 350 million rupees ($7.6 million) on the new plants, said Executive Director Mohan Goenka. “Demand …

Jumeirah Group, the Dubai-based luxury hospitality company and member of Dubai Holding, has signed an agreement with Palm Hills Developments (PHD), one of Egypt’s premier developers, to manage Jumeirah Gamsha Bay Resort, a new five-star resort located in PHD’s Palm Gamsha resort on the Red Sea. Jumeirah will manage a 250-room hotel on the mixed-use …

ISTANBUL: Iraq has pushed back by a month the date of an auction for international firms that want to develop three of its gas fields, company executives said on Sunday. Baghdad had said it will invite all 45 international companies which were prequalified in the two oil auctions last year to bid for Akkas field …

KHOBAR: State oil firm Saudi Aramco has invited contractors to bid for offshore work at its non-associated gas fields feeding Wasit, the biggest gas plant built in the kingdom, industry sources said on Sunday. Wasit would process up to 2.5 billion cubic feet per day (cfd) of gas from the Arabiyah and Hasbah offshore fields. …

PESHAWAR: The death toll from Pakistan’s worst floods in living memory topped 1,000 Sunday as outbreaks of waterborne disease emerged and penniless survivors sought refuge from the raging torrents. More than 1,000 people have been killed by monsoon rains, flash floods and landslides in the northwest province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and at least another 47 …

CAIRO: Egypt’s main index, EGX30, ended 0.7 percent higher, with Mobinil climbing 2.2 percent after hitting a 15-month low last week on poorly received earnings and Orascom Telecom rising further as Algeria talks loom. Traders said eyes are turning to blue-chip results due out in the next two weeks, including those of Commercial International Bank, …

In a statement on the stock exchange website, the Egyptian Financial and Industrial Company (EFIC) said that it gained all required licenses to establish a new plant in Ain Sokhna at an investment cost of LE 500 million. The plan will have a production capacity of 500,000 tons. The release stated that, the plant is …

DAMASCUS: Syria on Thursday warned the United States to stop trying to interfere as Arab leaders try to defuse heightened tensions in the Middle East. Saudi King Abdullah, who arrived in Syria on Thursday, was expected to travel with the Syrian president to Beirut on Friday to help calm concerns over pending indictments in the …

AMMAN: Jordan Telecom Group, the country’s sole fixed-line operator, said on Wednesday its net profit in the first six months of 2010 fell 10.9 pct to 45.6 million dinars ($64.3 million) due to the cost of launching a 3G service. The telecom group, in which France Telecom owns a 51 percent stake, said revenue at …

“The Egyptian banking sector’s performance in [the first and second quarters] mirrors the strong fundamentals and the vast liquidity of the sector, which has…allowed Egypt to safely navigate through the global turmoil,” Sherif Khalil, head of investor relations at Commercial International Bank (CIB), said. Still, he told Daily News Egypt, “the relative slowdown in economic …

CAIRO: Egypt’s Mobinil posted a fall in second-quarter net profit to LE 381 million, adding far fewer subscribers than its main rival, blaming the regulatory and competitive environment. "We still expect those adverse conditions to continue in the foreseeable future," Mobinil Chief Executive Officer Hassan Kabbani said in the earnings release. The profit figure was …

Private equity in the Middle East is emerging stronger and smarter from the financial crisis, finds a new report co-authored by INSEAD and Booz & Company. The report, entitled “Private Equity in the Middle East: A Rising Contender in Emerging Markets,” sets out to examine the evolution of private equity in the region over recent …

While it may seem that corporate social responsibility goes unnoticed by consumers, Omnia Elnosairy, head of corporate affairs at Barclays Bank Egypt, argues that “customers do care.” “They want to trust the organization that they bank with, they want to bank with an organization that is responsible,” told Daily News Egypt on the sidelines of …

"We started big, and we remain big" is the clunky, self-praising but deceptive slogan used by Egyptian television to commemorate the 50th anniversary of its establishment. Egyptian TV is now 50 years old, an occasion loaded with countless memories of past achievements and successes. Yet the overdose of remembrance that associated the drummed up celebration …