MANUFACTURING-

Ezz Steel forecasts EGP 8.3 bn in losses on EGP depreciation: Ezz Steel expects to record losses of EGP 5.3 bn in the first two months of 2023 and EGP 3 bn in 4Q 2022 on the back the depreciation of the EGP, the company warned in an EGX disclosure (pdf) Thursday. The steelmaker in October forecast (pdf) losses of EGP 1.9 bn in 2H 2022 on the back of that month’s devaluation, which left the EGP at around 24 to the USD. The EGP now stands at nearly 31 to the USD. Despite the losses, the company is still expected to record a profit in the last quarter of 2022, Naeem Brokerage’s head of research Allen Sandeep told Asharq Business.

TECH-

Comms minister meets with big names in the tech scene: Communications Minister Amr Talaat outsourcing and mobile phone assembly in Egypt with representatives of Ericsson, Lenovo, Nokia, and Detecon on the sidelines of the MWC Barcelona telecoms conference, the Ministry said in a statement.

Remember: Egypt’s local phone assembly industry is picking up steam. Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo are all reportedly planning to set up factories here, joining Samsung and Nokia manufacturer HMD Global. MPs passed legislation this week that will slash customs duties on mobile phone components in a bid to attract more companies to the country.

FINTECH-

BdC launches e-payments arm: Banque du Caire’s digital payments subsidiary Taly has launched with initial capital of EGP 500 mn, it said in a statement (pdf). The platform offers businesses digital payment acceptance, collections, and finance, as well as invoicing and prepaid cards, and also serves buy now, pay later (BNPL) players. The firm is headed by CEO Magdy Hassan, a payment industry veteran who previously spent 18 years at MasterCard, according to a separate statement (pdf).

CONSUMER FINANCE-

Contact adds new consumer finance products: Contact Financial Holding’s consumer financing arm is now providing financing for furniture and home maintenance, it said in a statement (pdf).

TRANSPORT-

Sphinx International Airport received its first flight on Tuesday since the airport reopened in November, according to Ahram Online. Nesma Airlines carried almost 170 people from Madrid to the airport, located west of Sheikh Zayed on the outskirts of Cairo. The airport was inaugurated in 2020 and was built to ease congestion at Cairo International Airport and provide easy access to the capital’s main tourist sites.

Wizz Air heading to Sohag from July: Low-cost airliner Wizz Air Abu Dhabi will relaunch flights between Abu Dhabi and Sohag this summer, it said in a statement Tuesday. The carrier will run three flights a week (Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday) from 4 July, it said. Wizz Air Abu Dhabi — a joint venture between European budget carrier Wizz Air and Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ — already operates flights to Alexandria.

IPO WATCH-

ATM Misr eyes the Tadawul, then the EGX: The Saudi parent company of ATM Misr wants to list on the Saudi Tadawul this year and is looking into listing its Egyptian arm on the EGX in the coming years, ATM Managing Director Amr Al Kouatli was quoted as telling Al Borsa.

Expansion in the works: ATM Misr wants to double its production capacity to produce 500 King Long buses in our market each year, Al Kouatli said. The company last week inaugurated its EGP 1 bn bus factory in New Suez. It also hopes to increase its use of local production inputs at the factory to 90%, he added, having last week said the local input ratio would reach as high as 60%.

INVESTMENT-

More details on SCZone ties with Hungary: The Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) and the Hungarian Export Promotion Agency (HEPA) will promote mutual investment, exchange expertise, and conduct training per a cooperation protocol they signed nearly a month ago during talks in Budapest, according to an SCZone statement. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and President Abdel Fattah El Sisi agreed on the “significant benefit” for Hungarian investors from investing in the SCZone during a meeting earlier this week.