PM — Move over, New York

Good afternoon, wonderful people. It’s a busy Wednesday afternoon, with a pipeline of news to keep you busy as we count down to the weekend.

THE BIG STORY TODAY-

Daylight savings time could make a comeback: A draft law that would reinstate daylight savings time — rolling our clocks forward from April through October — got the greenlight from the Madbouly cabinet at its weekly meeting, according to a statement. The law would see Cairo Local Time (CLT) pushed forward by one hour from the last Friday of April through the last Thursday of October.

Refresher: The cabinet scrapped daylight savings time back in 2016, after a year when we had “sprung forward” for spring, fallen back for Ramadan, sprung forward again post-Ramadan, and then fallen back a final time for fall.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

China's manufacturing activity grew at its fastest rate in more than a decade in February, far exceeding expectations as production skyrocketed following the removal of covid restrictions at the end of last year. The official purchasing managers' index (PMI) for the manufacturing sector rose for the second month in a row, hitting 52.6 in February, the highest level since April 2012, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics earlier today.

This story is all over the international business news this afternoon, with front pages implying that the country is getting back to normal faster than expected after the pandemic restrictions. (Reuters | Financial Times | Wall Street Journal | CNBC )

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

• Nokia to export Egypt-made phones this year. Nokia phone manufacturer HMD Global plans to export phones assembled in Egypt to North Africa this year. Target markets could include Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria.
• Gov’t imposes new charges on hotels + tourist companies: Hotels, tourist companies, restaurants and bazaars will have to pay additional fees into the government’s tourism support fund.
• Madbouly reassures Qatari investors on economy in bid to draw investment. Egyptian officials yesterday sought to reassure Qatari business leaders on the state of the Egyptian economy in a bid to unlock fresh Qatari investment.

???? CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

Do you want to attend our Enterprise Exports + FDI Forum on Monday, 15 May at the Four Seasons? As always, we’ll get underway at 8:00am with a networking breakfast for senior execs, then tumble into a day of compelling (and, we hope, inspiring) on-stage interviews.

Hit this link if you want to let us know you’re interested in attending (or just to check the event website and see what we’re thinking). We’ll soon start sending out invitations in batches.

Do you have an export success story you’d like to share on stage or with the community in editorial content? Drop a note to Patrick here and let’s talk.

Do you want to become a commercial partner for the event? Some of the biggest names in business and finance are on board — are you? Ping a note to Moustafa, our head of commercial, here.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- The heatwave continues: Expect temperatures to rise to 34°C during the day tomorrow before falling to 16°C at night, our favorite weather app tells us.

Could Dubai soon dethrone New York as the luxury real estate market king? As wealthy investors flock to the UAE city for a safe haven from geopolitical and economic uncertainty, its luxury real estate market has become the busiest in the world after New York, Los Angeles, and London, Bloomberg reported. There were 219 transactions involving properties worth USD 10 mn or more recorded in the city last year, according to property consultant Knight Frank. To put that in perspective, New York recorded 244 transactions worth USD 10 mn or more. Dubai is also one of the most "affordable" markets for high-end real estate, with a USD 1 mn investment buying you 1.1k sq ft of residential space in desirable areas, which is four times as much space as you would get for the same price in NYC, London, or Singapore.

The property boom in Dubai was fueled by a range of factors, including new residency visa options and the government's quick response to the pandemic, according to Faisal Durrani, head of Middle East research at Knight Frank. This has led to a flood of wealthy investors, like crypto m’naires, Indians looking for second homes, and bankers running away from strict Covid restrictions in Asia. Hedge fund traders have also moved to the city due to its low regulatory burden, absence of income tax, and attractiveness as a transit hub. An influx of wealthy Russian investors looking to protect their assets is also helping the market. In fact, Russians were the largest foreign purchasers of real estate in Dubai last year, Dubai-based brokerage Betterhomes reported, according to Reuters.

When fast and slow fashion collide: The Spanish town of A Coruna is home to a growing collection of sustainably-conscious boutique labels and the world’s biggest fast fashion retailer, Zara-owner Inditex. While the boutiques focus on producing high-quality, durable products through limited collections, Inditex produced over 565k tons of garments in 2021, reports Reuters. The excessive output has driven the European Commission’s pledge to reverse the overproduction and overconsumption of garments by making all clothes sold in the EU bloc long-lived and recyclable by 2030.

Some 5.8 mn tons of textiles are thrown away every year in the European Union, which is about 11 kg per person. Statistics from the EU show that every second, one truckload of textile products is thrown away in landfills or burned. EU regulators want to cut wasteful production and will announce proposals to limit the manufacturing of surplus garments by the end of March. However, these will only come in the form of suggestions. Instead of imposing regulations, the EU will ask businesses to self-regulate in order to earn the sustainable label.

Zara’s owner wants to combine high output with environmentally friendly processes: Inditex claims that its priority is to rethink its processes rather than its output, allowing the company to continue releasing new ranges on a regular basis with minimal environmental impact. “It’s not a question of how much (is manufactured),” Inditex told Reuters, “but of how.” The company is reportedly aiming for net zero emissions by 2040 and is producing organic fiber garments. Meanwhile, for the smaller shops in A Coruna, reducing pollution is a key part of doing business. Stores prioritize low-emission collections and charge online customers for returns. And many are run by former Inditex designers and sales staff.

???? ON THE TUBE TONIGHT-
(all times CLT)

One of the most beloved animated families goes long form: The burger-making Belcher family ditch their usual 20-minute runtime for The Bob's Burgers Movie — a musical comedy that follows the family members’s adventures as they try to save their restaurant once more, this time from a giant sinkhole that suddenly opened up right at their footsteps. You're sure to enjoy the movie even if you're not familiar with the Belcher family and all of their peculiarities. Make sure to add it to your lineup of family movie night candidates, its bright animation style will surely engage the little ones, while the storyline and humor will keep the adults on their toes. Watch the movie on Disney+ and if you’d rather consume the show in small doses, all 13 seasons of the show are also available to stream.

⚽The English Premier League is back tonight with two previously postponed fixtures. Arsenal faces Everton at 9:45pm, while Liverpool takes on Wolverhampton at 10pm.

Are you one of the runner-ups in the Enterprise Fantasy League hoping to catch up to the top scorers after today's games? If not, tap or click here to join the fun, or enter the code 8o4sut.

Meanwhile, the fifth round of the FA Cup continues:

Southampton v Grimsby Town (9:15pm)

Burnley v Fleetwood Town (9:30pm)

Man United v West Ham (9:45pm)

Sheffield United v Tottenham (9:55pm)

La Copa: Osasuna hosts Athletic Bilbao at 10pm in the first leg of Spain’s Copa Del Ray semi-finals.

And locally, in the Egyptian Premier League: Pharco faces the Arab Contractors at 6pm.

???? OUT AND ABOUT-
(all times CLT)

Don’t miss Film O’Clock International Festival screenings at Zawya Cinema, running through 4 March: The international festival connects audiences by screening films across several countries simultaneously. The festival will screen old and new films from across Lithuania, South Africa, Greece, Egypt, Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria.

Metallica and Linkin Park fans, you’re in luck: Tribute bands Vyrus and Figure09 will take the stage at El Sawy Culture Wheel this Friday at 6pm, performing the two bands’ hits.

Komedy Koshk takes over the stage ‎at Rawabet Art Space on Saturday from 8pm-11pm. Don’t miss this lineup: Mina Selim, Ahmed Hassan, Mohamed Farghaly, Alaa Yaseen, Paula Rizk, Ahmed Salem.

American standup comedian Maz Jobrani is serving up his funniest punchlines at the Marquee theater at Cairo Festival city this Saturday 4 March. Get your tickets at TicketsMarche.

Catch Cirque du Soleil’s OVO this month: The event features 100 performers taking the stage with their acrobatic acts. OVO will host 16 shows between 8-18 March at Cairo international Stadium Hall, courtesy of real estate developer Madinet Nasr for Housing and Development (pdf).

???? UNDER THE LAMPLIGHT-

Get to know big female names in classical music: When you think of classical music, the names Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Chopin come to mind, not too many women’s names pop up. Leah Broad’s biography Quartet will rectify that. She spotlights four English women composers, who were each notable during their time but have since become widely overlooked: Ethel Smyth, Rebecca Clarke, Dorothy Howell and Doreen Carwithen. Smyth, the oldest of the women featured in the book, was a passionate suffragette and once wrote of the musical establishment’s “temptation to pretend that women are non-existent musically”. The youngest, Carwithen, was a skilled film composer who wrote the music for a documentary about Elizabeth II's coronation that won a BAFTA Certificate of Merit.

The EGX30 rose 0.7% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 2.19 bn (9.2% above the 90-day average). Foreign investors were net sellers. The index is up 17.3% YTD.

In the green: Palm Hills Development (+3.9%), Qalaa Holding (+3.6%) and Mopco (+3.5%).

In the red: Fawry (-2.3%), Talaat Moustafa Holding (-1.9%) and Abu Qir Fertlizers (-1.9%).