EFG values El-Sewedy at LE 58.50

CAIRO: Investment bank and equities researcher EFG-Hermes gave El Sewedy Cables an estimated fair value of LE 58.50 ($10.21) a share and recommended buying for both the short and long term. The estimate was a fraction below the LE 58.70 at which EFG-Hermes valued the shares in July, before El Sewedy released its results for the first six months of the year. EFG-Hermes forecast a 55 percent increase in El Sewedy s EBITDA to LE 646 million in 2006 from LE 418 million in 2005 and a 55 percent increase in net profit to LE 498 million in 2006. Its fair value estimate is 32 percent above the price at which the shares last traded on the Egyptian stock exchange – LE 44.35 on Monday. El Sewedy is one of the two biggest cable manufacturers in the Middle East, with factories in Egypt, Sudan and Syria. It expects to increase its production capacity to 113,890 tons a year by the end of 2006.