EnterprisePM — IDH came home today, executing the country’s first-ever technical listing on the EGX.

It’s a big close to the work week as some of the most anticipated business stories of the month come to a head today.

THE BIG STORY TODAY- Integrated Diagnostics Holding (IDH) had its first day of trading on the EGX this morning. The LSE-listed consumer healthcare giant’s shares closed at EGP 18.40 on their first day of trading. Big congratulations to CEO Dr. Hend El Sherbini, CFO Omar Bedewy and Investor Relations Director Nancy Fahmy for a job well done. We have more in this afternoon’s Speed Round, below.

We also have EFG Hermes, which took a big step today to becoming a universal bank by signing the contracts that would see it take a 51% stake in Arab Investment Bank. This would be the first successful privatization of a bank since 2006. More on this, too, in Speed Round (along with a link to our interview with CEO Karim Awad about how he’s led the firm’s transformation).

STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING and watch this before you read any further — it’s the real trailer for the Friends reunion special (watch, runtime: 2:10). As one of us said earlier today: “They got so old, which means we got so old.” Also: They’re still damn funny. The resident 13-year-old has already circled Thursday, 27 May on her calendar and is desperately trying to figure out how / where to watch it when it streams. Our suspicion, given it’s on HBO Max in the US of A, is that it will be on OSN in our neck of the woods.

The reunion will feature all six members of the original cast, but won’t be a new episode of Friends — it’s a gathering to discuss the filming and production of the sitcom, according to Vulture. Look for guest appearances from Tom Selleck, David Beckham, Lady Gaga, BTS, Cara Delevingne, Mindy Kaling, James Corden, Malala Yousafzai (why?) and Justin Bieber (even worse).

** CATCH UP QUICK on the other top stories from today’s EnterpriseAM:

• Semi-lockdown extension: Stores, malls, cafes will have to shutter their doors at 9 pm until at least the end of the month, as per yesterday’s Madbouly cabinet directive. Schools will go into online learning, BUT beaches and parks will be open to the public.
• A civil service raise: Cabinet greenlit bringing the minimum wage increase to EGP 2.4k from EGP 2k for civil servants into effect at the start of the next fiscal year on 1 July. There’s still no word on a corresponding minimum wage for the private sector.
• Charter tourists must start paying for visas: Tourists entering the Red Sea, South Sinai, Luxor and Aswan governorates will now pay visa fees of USD 25 per person as of 1 May, after a Tourism Ministry initiative waiving entry fees expired.

HAPPENING NOW- Stocks aren’t melting down in Europe (major indexes from Paris and Frankfurt to Blighty are in solidly in the green) but it looks like it could be another rough day on Wall Street, which is girding itself for a fourth day of losses ahead of weekly jobless claims data due out later today, according to the Wall Street Journal. The Nasdaq and the S&P are poised to fall back from record highs as investors continue to fret that rising inflation will prompt the Fed to start thinking of tapering down bond-buying programs that have supported ultra-easy monetary policy and propped up stocks.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD- A ceasefire to end Israel’s attacks on Gaza could be announced in less than 24 hours, Hamas officials told CNN this morning. World leaders have been stepping up pressure to end the fighting as concerns grow over the gross humanitarian situation, but Israel hasn’t yet committed to formal truce. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday saying he is “determined to continue this operation until its objective is achieved” even after he was urged by US President Joe Biden to seek a “significant de-escalation.” Egypt is at the forefront of the push for a ceasefire.

Meanwhile, the European Union thinks Iran and the US may be close to reviving the 2015 nuclear accord, Bloomberg writes, citing a top EU official. A fourth round of talks between China, EU, Russia and the US came to a close yesterday in Vienna in a bid to lift Trump-era sanctions on Iran from 2018 — and it seems that all stakeholders are upbeat about reaching an accord.

Vaccinated folk, you may enter the EU next week: The European Union is reopening its borders to fully vaccinated tourists starting next week, as long as they passed their two-week immunization period and the jab they’ve taken is approved for use in the EU, the New York Times writes. EU-approved vaccines include AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Pfizer / BioNTech and Sinopharm. Those without jabs may only enter if they come from a country that is considered “safe” from a covid perspective — a list of which will be finalized on Friday. We’re not holding our collective breath for Egypt to be included on it. Hopeful? Yes. Holding our breath? No.

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🗓 CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

The El Gouna International Squash Open 2021 kicks off today and runs through 28 May. Fans will be allowed to enter the stands, with the first few match days without charge and tickets to be sold for the semis and finals. You can also watch the matches live on PSA Squash YouTube page. The event is supported by our good friends at CIB.

Can’t get enough of Egypt’s favourite racquet sport? The CIB PSA World Tour Finals will run on 22-27 June in Cairo.

Bibliotheca Alexandria is organizing a webinar to discuss safekeeping artifacts and heritage on Thursday, 27 May. Headlined “Fighting treasure hunting from Africa for the Americas: Protecting the history of the drowning world,” it will feature University of Edinburgh’s Arturo Rey da Silva. You can tune in live at 2:30pm from the Alexandria Center for Hellenistic Studies’ Facebook page.

🚙 FOR YOUR COMMUTE-

From the dumpster fire that is our social media feed:

• Veteran CNN correspondent Ben Wedeman (a longtime resident of Cairo before his relocation to Jerusalem and one of life’s good guys) keeps calm and carries on while being man-handled by Israeli troops.
• UFO mania is once again sweeping the US of A, with 60 Minutes (normally a pretty damn reputable outfit) being the latest to fall for the tale of an “intelligence officer” who probably never ran the classified US government program he claims to have run. Science journos and real life astrophysicists are skeptical where mainstream news anchors are not. Y’all can go home to Q now.
• Miss Piggy is not alone in mourning the passing of actor Charles Grodin, who the resident 13-year-old recalls fondly from his turn in the Beethoven franchise. Obit here in the NYT.

For our fellow iSheep: Reviewers love the new iPad Pros and iMacs with M1 processors. We suggest you start with Marques Brownlee (watch, runtime: 16:16) or Rene Ritchie (watch, runtime: 12:45) on the iPad Pro or catch John Gruber over at Daring Fireball on the iMac. Couple their reactions with Bloomberg’s report that we can expect a big overhaul of the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and Mac Pro this year alongside a more powerful iPadOS 15 and we’re really looking forward to WWDC, which is rumored to be ready to run the first week of June. We agree with Gruber (and Brownlee and Ritchie) that iPadOS just isn’t powerful enough to take full advantage of the hardware packed into an iPad Pro … but that’s not stopping us from putting together this afternoon’s edition of Enterprise on one.

Bonus: Prolific leaker Jon Prosser saus the Apple Watch will get its first major redesign soon.

Not enough Apple for you? Check out this ridiculously cool video of a new software upgrade that allows one-handed people to still interact with an Apple Watch. The video (scroll down a bit) is just fantastic.

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What’s next for BTC? The two leading cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and Ether, remain under pressure after yesterday’s slump, which saw them plummet over 30% in a single day, according to Bloomberg. This morning, the tokens saw another day of volatility, slipping back to weekly lows in Asian trading before rebounding later in the day. While Elon’s comments on mining’s energy needs and China’s central bank reiterating the coins can’t be used for payments triggered the downturn, the extent of the tumult can only be fully explained if we factor in market behavior, with a fierce sell-off being a catalyst for a full-scale “disaster,” on market watcher. Still, crypto “likely has more boom to come in the years ahead,” especially as only 2% of us use the coins at present, the same proportion of people who used the internet in 1996 before that interweb thing took off.

Get out of jail card? US companies want South Korea to release Samsung boos Lee Jae-yong from prison to help the world get over a chip shortage that’s hitting everything from computers and cameras to cars and washing machines, according to a letter seen by the Financial Times. A number of major tech firms are arguing that Lee could assist in US President Joe Biden’s USD 50 bn plan to resurrect the country’s self-sufficiency in chips, with the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea saying a “pardon of the most important executive of Samsung is in the best economic interest of both the US and Korea.” Lee is currently serving an 18-month sentence for bribery.

Internet Explorer is finally being laid to rest, with Microsoft announcing that the browser will be retired in June 2022 to focus on Microsoft Edge, according to a Windows blog post. While Windows 10 will still include Internet Explorer next year, all consumer versions will end support of the browser. Maybe now y’all will consider asking your IT department to stop demanding we support IE7?

📺 ON THE TUBE TONIGHT-

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 2014 action fest Sabotage is out on Netflix. A combination of realism and old-fashioned cop movie staples, the film tops many action films with a great storyline and well-rounded characters. Director David Ayer has created a career of showing the dark side of law enforcement in his flicks and this film is no exception. The former Governator leads a DEA team that manages to go up against a major cartel. However, after seized cartel funds go missing, the DEA goes under investigation and one by one the team members end up dead — possibly by one of their own.

⚽ El Zamalek is playing against Al Gaish tonight at 7pm in the Egyptian Premier League. El Gouna and Ghazl El Mahalla have a match at the same time, while later Al Masry and Al Ittihad will hit the field at 9pm.

🍔 EAT THIS TONIGHT-

Australia’s Jones The Grocer has made its way to Egypt, opening branches in New Cairo’s O1 Mall and Sheikh Zayed’s Galleria 40. The market and casual dining joint has also opened in Saudi Arabia as part of its plan to open 200 new stores globally in the next five years, according to The National. Pass by Jones The Grocer to get a selection of their gourmet cheeses, breads, or a cup of coffee from their famous carts. You could also sit down and order food from their cafe, which boasts some of the best and juiciest burgers and steaks we’ve ever had. Overall, the new addition to Egypt’s culinary scene is worth a drop by to get a taste of the new era of grocery shopping.

💡 UNDER THE LAMPLIGHT-

As most of our life remains online, it might be time to learn new body language techniques. Communication guru Erica Dhawan came up with just that in Digital Body Language, creating a guide to turn daily misunderstandings into comprehensible conversation that allows you to express yourself. Reading is the new listening and writing is the new empathy, Dhawan writes, and it’s these absurd new communication methods that we now rely on that necessitated a change in behavior. From large conferences, video meetings, and daily emails, the book explores the body language needed to build trust and understanding with other people in our digital world.

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🌤 TOMORROW’S WEATHER- We’re in for cooler temperatures starting Saturday. Tomorrow will see the mercury hit 38°C before dropping to 32°C and 33°C on Saturday and Sunday. Temperatures will stay in the mid-30s into half of next workweek.

Trading of LSE-listed Integrated Diagnostics Holding’s (IDH) shares on the EGX began today as the consumer healthcare giant with operations here, in Jordan, Nigeria and Sudan looks to make itself more accessible to domestic investors. Shares are trading here under the ticker IDHC. The listing comes one day after IDH issued strong financial results for FY2020, including a more generous dividend despite the impact of covid-19.

The offering was the first technical listing of its kind on the EGX as the Cairo-headquartered company sought to establish presence on the local stock exchange after having first made a blockbuster debut in London back in 2015, an offering that was 11x oversubscribed. IDH hasn’t issued any new stock. Rather, 5% (or 30 mn shares) of the company’s existing 600 mn shares were transferred to the EGX, which was the minimum needed to meet the EGX’s float requirements. Of those shares, at least 27 mn were sold to new institutional investors through two block trade transactions that took place on Tuesday and on Wednesday.

EGX trading data shows that the share price was up 367% by the closing bell, but this isn’t an accurate gauge of its debut performance as the listing wasn’t an IPO. An EGX statement this morning said the exchange used the share’s par value of EGP 3.95 as a “benchmark” opening price. However, the first trade executed in the day immediately reflected yesterday’s closing price in London, and the shares eventually closed at EGP 18.40 apiece — close to their USD 1.15 (EGP 18.01) price on the LSE toward the end of the trading day.

“Today marks a truly exciting day for IDH as we successfully met our goal of offering IDH’s unique value proposition to the widest investor base possible,” said CEO Dr. Hend El Sherbini. “With our shares now dual-listed on the both the LSE and the EGX and tradeable in a fully fungible manner, IDH has gained access to a larger pool of geographically diversified investors, and we look forward to increased participation from local retail and institutional investors as well as global emerging markets specialists who regularly invest through the EGX.” El Sherbini says that “IDH offers investors an attractive [chance] to capitalise on fast-growing, underserved healthcare markets through an organization with a well-suited business model and clearly defined growth strategies.”

IDH is the second company to list on the EGX this year, following in the footsteps of higher education outfit Taaleem, which ended a nearly two-year-long IPO dry spell.

Advisors: EFG Hermes and Renaissance Capital are quarterbacking the transaction for IDH, while Clifford Chance, Ogier and White & Case are serving as counsel. Inktank is IDH’s investor relations advisor.

EFG and the SFE have inked agreements to buy a supermajority stake in AIB in a transaction worth some EGP 3.8 bn. The Sovereign Fund of Egypt (SFE) and EFG Hermes will acquire 76% of the Arab Investment Bank (AIB), the two parties announced in a joint press release (pdf) out this morning, saying they had inked agreements for the transaction after receiving cabinet approval yesterday. The acquisition is structured as a capital increase that will raise AIB’s paid-in capital to EGP 5 bn. The news comes one day after EFG announced strong 1Q2021 financial results.

Who’s getting what? EFG Hermes will subscribe to 423 mn newly issued shares for EGP 6.03 per share, at a total value of EGP 2.55 bn, giving it 51% of AIB and majority ownership. Meanwhile, the SFE acquired 207 mn newly issued shares at the same per-share price totalling EGP 1.25 bn, making it the second-largest shareholder with a 25% stake. The National Investment Bank — AIB’s parent company — will hold the remaining 24%, after purchasing stakes of previous minority shareholders.

The agreement sees EFG Hermes transform into a universal banking platform, CEO Karim Awad said. This comes as part of a diversification strategy that has strengthened the group’s presence in frontier emerging markets, he added in the statement, noting that “as a company, we continue to be extremely bullish about what the future holds for Egypt.”

A decisive transformation: Under Awad’s leadership, EFG has transformed from an Egypt-focused investment bank with a presence in the GCC into the leading investment bank in frontier emerging markets with offices in Egypt, the GCC, Nigeria, Kenya, Bangladesh, Vietnam, London, New York and more. In parallel, Awad has turned EFG into a financial services powerhouse in Egypt with potential to expand well beyond, adding microfinance, leasing, factoring, payments, consumer finance, insurance, mortgage finance and more to the firm’s non-bank financial services platform. It’s a playbook that other domestic investment banks, looking to smooth out their earnings, have emulated. Awad told the the full story in his appearance on Making It, our podcast on how to build a great business here in Egypt.

Explore more of EFG Hermes’ track record here in the company’s credentials deck (pdf).

The transaction is expected to close in 3Q2021, pending the Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE) final approval.

Background: EFG and the SFE began due diligence on AIB last June, after receiving clearance from the CBE. The National Investment Bank had announced earlier last year a plan to take several of its portfolio companies to market with the help of the SFE.

This is the first full bank privatization Egypt has seen in 15 years, the last being the sale of Bank of Alexandria to Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo in 2006. Earlier that same year, the Egyptian American Bank — which was partially owned by Bank of Alexandria — was sold to Credit Agricole and El Mansour & El Maghraby Investment and Development Co. The CBE has also been working to sell United Bank to a strategic investor, but that process appears to have been put on hold due to market turbulence resulting from the covid-19 pandemic.

Gov’t hires two private companies for municipal solid waste management around Cairo: Four ministries signed contracts with Ertekaa Integrated Services & Waste Recycling and Enviro Master Environmental Services to handle solid waste management in eastern and western Cairo, the Cabinet announced. The companies will be responsible for handling waste from the doorstep of citizens, commercial areas and government buildings up until its transportation to intermediate transfer stations, as well as cleaning streets and public utilities in 18 neighborhoods.

This is the second phase of the Local Development Ministry’s municipal solid waste management system, which focuses on securing contracts with the private sector for the collection, transportation, treatment, recycling and safe disposal of waste, minister Mahmoud Shaarawy explained. The first phase revolved around closing landfills, and establishing new ones.

We’ve tried this before, and it didn’t work: When the government turned to the private sector over a decade ago to handle the situation, the companies (European imports) couldn’t find a way around structural problems in the industry, industry insiders had told us last year. This included the lack of a nationwide collection infrastructure and a market that is no longer conducive to the byproducts of recycling. On top of that, the government stopped paying service fees to recyclers who handled waste. Read up on where things went wrong with Egypt’s waste management in our Hardhat piece.

CATCH UP QUICK-

• Germany will provide Egypt with grants worth EUR 57.5 mn to implement six projects in fields including energy, education, and water sanitation, after the International Cooperation Ministry signed an agreement with the German Ambassador to Cairo Cyrill Jean Nunn, according to a statement.

EARNINGS WATCH- Orascom Construction (OC) reported a bottom line of USD 23.9 mn in 1Q2021, down 4.4% y-o-y from USD 25 mn in 1Q2020, the company said in an earnings statement (pdf). Revenues were down 1.3% over the same quarter last year to USD 816.6 mn from USD 827.6 mn, with USD 580 mn coming from OC’s operations in the Middle East and Europe and USD 236.6 mn from the US. The company saw a “tangible contribution” to its Egypt business from its portfolio of subsidiaries and investments in the building materials sector and from facility management and infrastructure assets, CEO Osama Bishai said. It expects demand for construction chemicals to continue to increase, driven by “increased building activity in Egypt,” he added.

OC’s consolidated backlog excluding Besix was unchanged on a y-o-y basis at USD 5.4 bn. Consolidated new awards rose 11.2% y-o-y to USD 666.4 mn during the quarter. Including the group’s 50% share in Besix, pro forma backlog as of the end of 1Q2021 rose 2.6% y-o-y to USD 8.1 bn.

CI Capital reported a net loss of EGP 17 mn in 1Q2021, down from a bottom line of EGP 88 mn in 1Q2020, after incurring EGP 150 mn in non-recurring expenses for an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), according to the company’s earnings release (pdf). Normalized bottom line after tax and minority interest, which leaves out the one-off charge, came in at EGP 133 mn, up 48% from 90 mn in 1Q2021. Revenues ended the quarter up 8% y-o-y, climbing to EGP 560 mn from EGP 518 in the same quarter last year.

CI Capital’s leasing arm, Corplease, reported revenues EGP 282 mn during the quarter, down 9% y-o-y but contributing over 50% to the topline. Reefy, the group’s microfinance business, saw 1Q2021 total revenues grow 35% over 1Q2020 to reach EGP 129 mn as it “sustained its solid performance delivering record high KPIs across all fronts fueled by aggressive rollout of new branches,” the company said.

Mortgage finance operations, which have only recently been added to CI Capital’s business, remained in the green for the third consecutive quarter, reporting EGP 1.9 mn in profit on EGP 9 mn in revenues after having reversed a net loss position. Revenues from investment banking and advisory services also grew to EGP 124 mn in the quarter, up 16% from EGP 106 mn.

Crédit Agricole’s bottom line fell to EGP 378.5 mn in 1Q2021, compared to EGP 440 mn in 1Q2020 as its topline inched down 8% y-o-y to EGP 1.26 bn during the quarter, according to the bank’s quarterly financials (pdf).

OTHER MARKET NEWS-

The board of EGX-listed Speed Medical has approved a plan to list on the Dubai Financial Market, a move that would see it become the country’s latest dual-listed company, according to a regulatory filing (pdf) it made this morning. The board’s approval was under the condition that shares transferred to the DFM from the EGX cannot exceed a third of the company’s capital. An EGM is still due to be held to approve the transaction. Speed appointed Naeem advisory arm for initial technical and financial advice as it moves forward with the plan.

The diagnostics labs operator became the first company listed on the small-cap Nilex to make the jump to the EGX when it completed an EGP 222 mn capital increase late last year. The company’s sales and profit boomed during the pandemic as demand grew for covid-19 testing. Speed’s net income more than quadrupled in 2020.

MARKET ROUNDUP-

The EGX30 fell 0.69% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 1.56 bn (19.5% above the 90-day average). Foreign investors were net sellers. The index is down 1.04% YTD.

In the green: EFG (+2.1%), Crédit Agricole (+1.3%) and Emaar Misr (+1.3%).

In the red: Elsewedy Electric (-4.2%), MM Group (-3.1%) and Fawry (-2.8%).

Facebook’s heavy-handed efforts at moderating content has left many users confused over what the platform’s rules actually entail: The tech giant’s obscure set of community guidelines has come under fire in recent months from users who have been penalized for unknowingly violating the platform’s rules, the Wall Street Journal reports. The reinvigorated drive to regulate information carried on the platform has left writers, academics and ordinary users temporarily — and sometimes permanently — banned for seemingly asinine comments deemed inappropriate by the company’s algorithms. The efforts, which came in response to years of public criticism for fake news and hate speech circulating uninhibited on the platform, now raises questions about the scope of information regulation online.

It started with fake news, but now posts on Palestine are being censored, too: This issue has come to the fore in recent days, as many users on Facebook and its subsidiary Instagram posting content on the Israeli campaign against Palestine complained that their posts were being censored. On Instagram, some — including influencers or others with a large follower base — have reported their posts and stories getting fewer views and less engagement after repeatedly publishing content defending Palestine.

There have been more minor — but no less bizarre — reasons, too: Some users have reportedly experienced penalties for posting photos that depict breastfeeding mothers or the use of the word “crazy” in a good faith discussion with a friend. Others have seen restrictions on their accounts for posting WWII era photos of Nazi officials within the context of a history discussion and were subject to even longer bans for attempting to appeal the decision.

In charge of detecting “questionable” content posted to Facebook is an AI algorithm that automatically flags posts, comments and images that might be deemed in violation of the company’s community standards. In recent years, those standards have expanded to include “violent and graphic content” and “false news” — but specific internal guidelines and the penalties carried for violating them have not been explicitly spelled out by Facebook. Once content has been automatically flagged, it is then up to one of the company’s 15k third party moderators to make a final decision on those posts and issue a penalty.

The process is far from foolproof: Facebook has admitted to this process resulting in a wrong call in some 10% of cases (or 300k posts) per day. The process has been found to be “grossly inadequate” by a New York University research paper released last year, which also recommended the company end third-party moderation.

Even moderators don’t know what they’re doing: Sitting on top of the company’s labyrinth of rules and guidelines is a 20-person oversight board made up of lawyers and experts who review appeals and major decisions by the company. But this appeal process — which already rarely vindicates the users — has been significantly undermined by the pandemic, as there are “fewer people available to review content.” And whatever decision the board makes isn’t binding, either. The board has in the past called Facebook’s rules “difficult for users to understand,” and recommended they provide more detailed explanations to users for when they’re faced with penalties. But avoiding disclosures has been a tactic used by Facebook to skirt entering into disputes with users, former employees told the WSJ.

This has driven many to get creative and cheat the system: Those commenting in Arabic on the events in Palestine have returned to Arabic’s old roots and have been commenting using a script of the language that removes dots from letters, calling it the first “human protests against AI”.

16-19 May (Sunday-Wednesday): The Arabian Travel Market (ATM) takes place in Dubai.

17-20 May (Monday-Thursday): Avior-HC Egypt Virtual Conference.

18-20 May (Tuesday-Thursday): Renaissance Capital’s annual MENA Investor Conference.

20 May (Thursday): Integrated Diagnostics Holding shares begin trading on the EGX.

20 May (Thursday): Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias will be in Cairo for talks with FM Sameh Shoukry as part of a three-day regional tour amid the ongoing escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

20-28 May (Thursday-Friday): Gouna International Squash Open 2021.

24-26 May (Monday-Wednesday): British Egyptian Business Association virtual healthcare week.

26 May (Wednesday): Final day for Africa-based startups to apply for the French government-sponsored AFD Digital Challenge (pdf).

27-29 May (Thursday-Saturday): Informa Markets’ Nextmove real estate exhibition, Cairo International Convention Center, Nasr City.

30 May (Sunday): Al Mal GTM is organizing the Portfolio Egypt conference under the theme ‘Growth under the weight of the pandemic.’

31 May (Monday): Egypt is hosting Trescon Global’s World AI Show with the support of ITIDA.

7 June (Monday): British Egyptian Business Association hosts event featuring Oil Minister Tarek El Molla.

17 June (Thursday): The CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee will meet to review interest rates.

17-20 June (Thursday-Sunday) : The International Exhibition of Materials and Technologies for Finishing and Construction (Turnkey Expo), Cairo International Conference Center.

22-27 June (Tuesday-Sunday): The CIB PSA World Tour Finals for 2020-2021 will take place in Cairo.

24 June (Thursday): End of the 2020-2021 academic year (public schools).

26-29 June (Saturday-Tuesday): The Big 5 Construct Egypt, Cairo International Convention Center, Cairo, Egypt.

30 June (Wednesday): The IMF will complete a second review of targets set under the USD 5.2 bn standby loan approved in June 2020 (proposed date).

30 June (Wednesday): 30 June Revolution Day.

30 June- 15 July: National Book Fair.

July + August: Thanaweya Amma exams take place.

1 July: (Thursday): National holiday in observance of 30 June Revolution.

1 July (Thursday): Large taxpayers that have not yet signed on on to the e-invoicing platform will suffer a host of penalties, including removal from large taxpayer classification, losing access to government services and business, and losing subsidies.

1 July (Thursday): Businesses importing goods at seaports will need to file shipping documents and cargo data digitally to the Advance Cargo Information (ACI) system.

15 June (Saturday): EGX-listed will have to complete filing their financial disclosures for the period ended 31 March.

19 July (Monday): Arafat Day (national holiday).

20-23 July (Tuesday-Friday): Eid Al Adha (national holiday).

23 July (Friday): Revolution Day (national holiday).

5 August (Thursday): The CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee will meet to review interest rates.

9 August (Monday): Islamic New Year.

12 August (Thursday): National holiday in observance of the Islamic New Year.

12-15 September (Sunday-Wednesday): Sahara Expo: the 33rd International Agricultural Exhibition for Africa and the Middle East.

16 September (Thursday): The CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee will meet to review interest rates.

30 September-2 October (Thursday-Saturday): Egypt Projects 2021 expo, Egypt International Exhibition Center, Cairo, Egypt.

30 September-8 October (Thursday-Friday): The Cairo International Fair, Cairo International Conference Center, Cairo, Egypt.

1 October (Friday): Expo 2020 Dubai opens.

6 October (Wednesday): Armed Forces Day.

7 October (Thursday): National holiday in observance of Armed Forces Day.

12-14 October (Tuesday-Thursday): Mediterranean Offshore Conference, Alexandria, Egypt.

18 October (Monday): Prophet’s Birthday.

21 October (Thursday): National holiday in observance of the Prophet’s Birthday.

28 October (Thursday): The CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee will meet to review interest rates.

1-3 November (Monday-Wednesday): Egypt Energy exhibition on power and renewable energy, Egypt International Exhibition Center, Cairo, Egypt.

1-12 November (Monday-Friday): 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), Glasgow, United Kingdom.

29 November-2 December (Monday-Thursday): Egypt Defense Expo.

13-17 December: United Nations Convention against Corruption, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

16 December (Thursday): The CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee will meet to review interest rates.

14-16 February 2022 (Monday-Wednesday): Egypt Petroleum Show, Egypt International Exhibition Center, New Cairo, Egypt.

1H2022: The World Economic Forum annual meeting, location TBD.

May 2022: Investment in Logistics Conference, Cairo, Egypt.

27 June-3 July 2022 (Monday-Sunday): World University Squash Championships, New Giza.

**Note to readers: Some national holidays may appear twice above. Since 2020, Egypt has observed most mid-week holidays on Thursdays regardless of the day on which they fall and may also move those days to Sundays. We distinguish below between the actual holiday and its observance.