CIB shares surge after dividend, lift Egypt index
Commercial International Bank posted its sharpest daily gain in 22 months on Thursday, lifting Egypt s index as investors bet a stock dividend would pay high returns.Shares of Egypt s largest lender by market value, down nearly 20 percent this year to Wednesday s close, surged 5.17 percent to LE 50.49 Egyptian ($9.51). The bank gave a dividend on Thursday of one share for every two held. The pattern and history of the stock is that the dividend pays well due to the solid fundamentals of the company, said Mohamed Radwan, trader at Pharos Securities. Every time the dividend is given the share price tends to move up. Overall, the benchmark CASE 30 index rose 1.28 percent to 9,251.19 points, while the well-watched Hermes index rose 0.93 percent to 801.48 points. The broader CIBC index climbed 0.51 percent to 453.71 points.CIB, which posted 67 percent growth in first quarter profit, is trading at 10.63 times estimated 2008 earnings compared to a sector average of 11.37 times, according to Reuters data.Shares of Mobinil, Egypt s largest mobile operator by subscribers, jumped 3.76 percent to LE 150. The company has said it would release its first half results on Aug. 10. People are expecting strong growth because of the overall expansion in the mobile market, Radwan said, without giving specifics.Shares of Ezz Steel, Egypt s largest steel maker by sales, gained 2.25 percent to LE 76 after it said it would raise its capital to fund expansion.Shareholders could buy two new shares for every one held to finance expansions in Egypt and Algeria, the company said.Investors anticipated the expansion would boost profit, said Mohamed Ebeid, trader at EFG-Hermes investment bank. The new plant they are building should reduce operating costs dramatically, he said. – Reuters
Petrofac wins gas processing unit contract from Khalda in Egypt
Petrofac Ltd., a UK-based oil and gas services provider, won a contract from Khalda Petroleum Co. to help build a gas processing unit in Egypt. “The contract, to provide engineering and procurement services for an additional gas train should convert to a lump-sum engineering, procurement and construction contract on a pre- agreed basis, London-based Petrofac said Friday in a statement distributed by the Regulatory News Service. This will be Khalda s fifth gas processing facility at Salam in the Egyptian Western Desert, which will bring the project s processing capacity to 810 million cubic feet of gas and 31,000 barrels of condensate a day, according to the statement. – Bloomberg
Airports in Middle East bright spots amid slump
Airports in the Middle East are turning out to be bright spots amid slowing air traffic growth in most regions of the world as air travel gets more expensive, Gulf News reported on Thursday, quoting industry group.According to Geneva-based Airports Council International (ACI), passenger growth at airports worldwide was just two percent in June. It said high fuel prices, stock market turbulences, inflation and an uncertain economic outlook have taken their toll on international air traffic in June.According to the Gulf News report, Middle East and Africa saw a growth rate of 13 percent, while Europe grew 2.4 percent. The bright spots in international traffic remain Egypt and South Africa, as well as the UAE, Bahrain and Lebanon, ACI said in a statement. Asia Pacific international traffic contracted mainly due to China, Taiwan and Japan, it added.Top Asian hub airports saw a moderate growth, significantly down from previous levels but higher than global average, ACI noted. Bangkok recorded a growth of 5.1 percent, Singapore rose 2.9 percent, Kuala Lumpur s passengers grew 6.5 percent and Hong Kong witnessed 5.5 percent growth.According to data presented in the report, the Middle East aviation sector continues to defy a global industry slowdown and airlines in the region are more appear more optimistic than their peers elsewhere about future growth.During the first half of this year, Dubai International Airport handled a record 18.46 million passengers, registering a growth of 13.8 percent over the first half of 2007. Between January and May, 3.5 million passengers used Abu Dhabi International Airport, a 39.2 percent increase compared with the same period last year, the paper quoted the report as saying. Regional airlines also continue to build their fleet to cope with such growth. Middle East companies accounted for some $40 billion worth of plane orders, Gulf News said.
Emirates superjumbo takes to the skies
Dubai carrier Emirates said its new superjumbo, which boasts features such as showers and luxury suites, took to the skies on Friday, becoming only the second airline to fly the world s biggest plane.The A380, which can seat 853 passengers, took off for its inaugural flight bound for New York, the first of 58 ordered in a $18.8-billion (?12-billion) deal with the European plane manufacturer.The government-owned airline, the fastest growing in the Middle East, is already the largest single client of the A380, which has been beset by delays. The first plane had been scheduled for delivery in October 2007.Singapore Airlines last year became the first carrier in the world to fly the superjumbo. -AFP
Prominent Kuwaiti businessman dies in Portugal
One of Kuwait s most high-profile businessmen and global investors, Jassim Mohamed Al-Bahar, has died in Portugal aged 66, the Kuwaiti press reported on Thursday.Bahar, who died on Wednesday, held billion-dollar investments in Europe, the Arab world and elsewhere, notably South Africa, Al-Jarida and Al-Qabas newspapers said, without detailing the cause of his death.He was a board member of the Kingdom Hotel Investments company of Saudi billionaire Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, and held shares in a palm-shaped artificial island being built off the coast of Dubai.Since 2002, Bahar worked as chairman of International Financial Advisors (IFA), which has investments in a wide range of sectors.He also chaired affiliates of IFA Hotels and Resorts in Lebanon and South Africa, and United Investments Portugal.His group has many subsidiaries, most of which are listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange and which have an estimated market value of $4 billion (?2.5 billion), Al-Qabas added.Bahar was married with four children and his father, Mohammad Abdurrahman al-Bahar, chairs the National Bank of Kuwait, the largest bank in the oil-rich Gulf emirate. -AFP
