Egyptian Stocks: Orascom Construction, EFG-Hermes, South Valley

Egypt’s benchmark EGX30 Index (EGX30) declined 1.7 percent to 4,394.32 at the 2:30 p.m. close in Cairo, the lowest level since January 24.

The following shares were active on the Egyptian Exchange. Stock symbols follow company names.

EFG-Hermes Holding SAE (HRHO) declined 5.1 percent to 10 Egyptian pounds, the lowest level in more than five months. Planet IB Ltd. said in a statement yesterday “confirming the seriousness of its offer” to buy the biggest publicly traded Arab investment bank, threatening to derail a deal between EFG- Hermes and QInvest to create a joint investment bank.

“There’s speculation that Planet is trying to recruit significant investors in EFG-Hermes to file a complaint with the regulator to suspend the QInvest deal,” Wafik Dawood, director of institutional sales at Cairo-based Mega Investments Securities, said by phone. “The dispute between the pro- and anti-QInvest camps is weighing on sentiment.”

Orascom Construction Industries (OCIC) fell 1.5 percent to 244.24 Egyptian pounds, the lowest level in more than four months. First-quarter profit for Egypt’s biggest publicly traded builder dropped 54 percent to 567 million pounds ($94 million) from the year-earlier period. That missed the 716 million-pound average estimate of eight analysts compiled by Bloomberg.

South Valley Cement (SVCE) slumped 2.6 percent to 3.02 pounds, the lowest level since January. The Cairo-based producer of the building material will call a shareholders’ meeting to seek approval for the sale of a precast concrete plant in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ahmed A. Namatalla in Cairo at anamatalla@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Maedler at cmaedler@bloomberg.net