Egypt’s Alex Cement H1 net profit rises 13%

Egypt’s Alex Cement H1 net profit rises 13%
03 August 2010


Egypt’s Alexandria Cement posted a 13 per cent gain in first-half net profit, the stock exchange said on Tuesday, defying a slowdown in its Greek parent’s main markets.

The firm, a subsidiary of Titan Cement, reported net profit rose to E£286.5m from E£253.3m a year earlier. The bourse statement gave no further details.

Business in Titan’s main markets of Greece and the United States is suffering from a building slump, but its Egyptian unit is seeing strong growth.

The results were as good as you can expect, but they were already factored into the share price, with market talk since last week," said Amr ElFeky, a trader of Cairo Capital Securities.

The Egyptian unit plans to buy a 99.9 percent stake in another Egyptian cement maker, Beni Suef Cement Co., which is also owned by Titan. .

In July, Alexandria Cement received a green light to raise E£2.45bn in a rights issue, paving the way for it to sell a 16 percent stake to International Finance Corporation for EUR80m.
Published under Cement News