Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides reconfirmed that he will sign “the first agreements for the commercialization of natural gas from deposits in the Republic of Cyprus” tomorrow. 

Egypt’s unemployment rate fell to 6.4% in 4Q 2024, down 0.3 percentage points from the previous quarter, according to data from state statistics agency Capmas.

Efforts to speed up customs clearance got the cabinet thumbs up, with a plan from the finance and investment ministries to improve the process of exporting and importing goods being passed in its bid to cut customs clearance times down from eight days to just two.

A power purchase agreement between Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power and the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company was approved to allow energy supplies from wind energy projects totaling 2 GW to be fed into the national grid.

A plan to simplify private healthcare regulation detailed in a draft law was passed, which is designed to make it easier to license new private healthcare facilities, disentangle administration from ownership, and greenlight foreign players wanting to open up shop in the country.

Stamp tax amendments set to replace the planned capital gains tax will be issued within days, Deputy Finance Minister for Tax Policies Sherif El Kilani said. 

The government intends to reformulate the criteria for granting the golden license, in addition to discussing the determinants and controls for establishing public free zones, in order to govern the procedures related to all industrial activities and projects, Minister Kamel EL-wazir said.

ABUK released 2Q24/25 full financial statements with net profit surging to EGP3.2 billion in 2Q24/25 (+59% YoY, +146% QoQ), with a NPM of 47.7% in 2Q24/25 (+1pps YoY, +12pps QoQ), further supported by revenue growth as well as EGP897.4 million of forex gains recorded in the quarter. This brings 1H24/25 bottom line to EGP4.4 billion (+12% YoY) with a NPM of 43.4% (-3pps YoY). ABUK is currently trading at FY24/25f PE of 4.8x.

CANA 4Q24 bottom line recorded a strong EGP2,559 million (+95% q/q, +173% y/y), bringing FY24 net profit to EGP5,681 million (+148% y/y, 49% higher than Al Ahly Pharos Estimates). We reiterate our Overweight recommendation of CANA on an updated FV of EGP35.00/share up from EGP 23.08/share. CANA is currently trading at 2.1x P/E 2025 and 0.4x P/B 2025. BoD proposed distribution of 0.54 bonus share for every outstanding share.

 BTFH aims to launch an app specializing in data analytics in 2025.

EMFD inked a strategic partnership agreement with Midar Investment to set up the EGP100 bn New Mivida residential project in New Cairo.