EFG Hermes Securities Brokerage, a major brokerage house in the Arab world, led the traded deals of brokerage firms in March, driven by the restructuring of investments of some Arab investors, mainly the Saudi investor Abdel Monem Rashed Al Rashed. Hermes has transferred Al Rashed’s contributions in 13 Egyptian companies worth EGP 6.1bn to one of his own subsidiaries.
Hermes conducted operations worth EGP 17bn, estimated at 26.3% of the total tradings of the Egyptian Exchange in March, climbing up four ranks compared to last month.
The Commercial International Brokerage Company (CIBC) came in second place in March, climbing up one rank from February, with total trading deals of EGP 5.34bn and a market share of 8.3%.
The Financial Brokerage Group ranked third, down one rank from February, with total deals of EGP 5.26bn and a market share of 8.1%, followed by Pharos Securities conducting total deals of EGP 2.65bn, with a market share of 4.1%.
Pioneers Securities ranked fifth with total deals of EGP 2.4bn followed by Beltone Securities Brokerage, which kept its rank for the second consecutive month, with total deals of EGP 1.8bn and a market share of 2.8%.
Amer Abdel Qader, deputy head of the brokerage sector in Pioneers Holding, said that the opening of the company’s new branches led the company to advance two places in the ranking, especially after the opening of the Al Mohandseen branch, as well as two other branches in Heliopolis and Sheikh Zayed.
He added that the company has conducted promotional campaigns in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates to establish “a disk” for Arab traders.
Sigma Securities Brokerage also advanced three ranks at the end of March to occupy the seventh place, with tradings of EGP 1.75bn and a market share of 2.7%. Naeem Brokerage advanced five places to return to the top-ten list with trading deals of EGP 1.4bn.
Mubasher International for Securities returned to the top-ten list with deals worth EGP 1.37bn in March and a market share of 2.1%. Arabeya Online Securities came in the tenth rank with trading deals of EGP 1.16bn, climbing up five places.
Al-Rashed trading deals supported Hermes to seize the lead from the Al Rowad for Securities Brokerage, which has just implemented a deal for the transfer of ownership of Misr Financial Investments’ share in El Mostakbal for Urban Development to Banque Misr in February.
Hermes led the quarterly ranking of brokerage firms in terms of value—by EGP 29bn—followed by Al Rowad for Securities Brokerage by EGP 24.1bn, the Commercial International Brokerage company (CIBC) by EGP 15.7bn, the Financial Brokerage Group by EGP 15.58bn, and Pharos Securities by EGP 10.4bn.
Ahmed Abu Taleb, managing director of the brokerage sector at Pharos, said that the recent period has seen a focus on the dealings of individuals after the company recruited a skilled technical staff, which led the company to advance by 20 places in the brokerage firms ranking in terms of individual value traded within the last six months.
Abu Taleb added that the company targets to be among the top ten companies in terms of individual value traded in the current year, noting that the company may open new branches.
He predicted that the volume of trading deals will stay steady at about EGP 1bn until the end of the first half of this year, despite some fluctuations in the market, including the amendment of the Turkish constitution, the French presidential elections, and the imposition of stamp duty.
