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ROUND UP: The month at a glance

ORIENTAL WEAVERS’ PROFITS UP

Oriental Weavers for Carpets’ net profit in the first half of 2000 was £E 61.4 million, up 8.9 percent compared to the first half of 1999, according to EFG-Hermes. Meanwhile, Oriental Weavers’ pretax profit was up 9 percent to £E 67.7 million, while first-half sales rose to £E 255.4 million, up 17 percent from the first half of 1999.

ABC LAUNCHES CARLSBERG

Al-Ahram Beverages Company (ABC) on August 24 announced its launch of Carslberg beer in Egypt under license from the Danish brewer. Carlsberg and its technical arm, Danbrew, formed a strategic alliance with ABC in 1997 to enhance beer quality and brewing, according to a company statement. Meanwhile, ABC announced net profits of £E 45.2 million for the first half of 2000 – a rise of 12.4 percent, compared to the first half of 1999. ABC said in a statement that first-half sales totaled £E 162 million, up 13.7 percent from the first half of 1999.

OHH SHOWS NET PROFIT

Orascom Hotel Holdings (OHH) reported a £E 0.87 million net profit in the first half of 2000, compared to a loss of £E 7.7 million in the first half of 1999. Ra’ed Saqfelhait, OHH’s chief financial officer, said that the improvement in first-half earnings was chiefly due to increased room occupancy and room rates.

INTERNATIONAL BOND BY YEAR’S END

Egypt will launch a benchmark international bond worth between $400 million and $500 million by the end of the year, Al Alam Al Youm reported on August 29. Mustapha Assal, head of fixed income at EFG-Hermes, said that the bond would most likely be in euros instead of dollars. "The interest rates on the euro are much better at the moment than on the dollar," he said.

FINANCIAL CENTER UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Construction has begun on the £E 1.6 billion Cairo Financial Center (CFC). The project should be completed in 2004, CFC vice-president Khaled Nossier said. The center, a 20-minute drive away from the center of Cairo, will house the Cairo & Alexandria Stock Exchanges, and will also include a 400-room business hotel.

CURRENT ACCOUNT DEFICIT DECREASES

An improved balance of trade helped narrow Egypt’s current account deficit to $56.5 million for the fourth quarter of the fiscal year ended June 2000, compared to $482.9 million for the third quarter, according to provisional figures released by the Central Bank of Egypt. The fourth-quarter result left Egypt with a full-year current account deficit of $1.17 billion, or about 1.3 percent of GDP – less than the $1.71 billion deficit, equivalent to 2 percent of GDP, the year before.

TOURIST ARRIVALS UP

Tourist arrivals in Egypt reached 405,000 in June, up 16.4 percent from 348,000 in June 1999, Egypt’s Central Bank said. Egypt received 5.7 million tourists in the 12-month period to June, up from 5.6 million last year. Travel revenues for the year were at an all-time high of $4.3 billion, up from $3.2 billion the year before.

CIB SHOPPING FOR $150 MILLION LOAN

Commercial International Bank is arranging a $150 million loan from an international syndicate of banks, CIB said. In a press release, the bank said that the loan would be split between a $100 million three-year tranche and a $50 million five-year tranche. The facility will be used to fund loans to CIB’s clients, said a bank official who requested anonymity. This is the first loan to an Egyptian borrower in the international loan market that incorporates a five-year element, CIB said.

GHALI TAKES AIM AT THE BUDGET DEFICIT

The government is to cut the country’s budget deficit to 3.4 percent of gross domestic product during the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, 2001, Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade Youssef Boutros Ghali said in the September 8 edition of Al Ahram. The minister was quoted as telling businessmen in Brussels that Egypt’s budget deficit would continue to fall to 3 percent of GDP next year. The government’s target is 2 percent.

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