PM — Ramadan Kareem, everyone

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen — it’s finally the weekend, and while Thursdays are always cause for celebration, we can’t help but agonize over the fact that our next workday will be sans caffeine as we enter Ramadan (presumably as of Saturday).

We continue to publish EnterpriseAM at 6am CLT Sunday-Thursday and EnteprisePM at 3:30pm Sunday-Thursday during the holy month. You can also look forward to our popular Your Wealth edition tomorrow morning. The theme (predictably enough) is Ramadan.

The EGX announced (pdf) yesterday shortened hours that will be in place for the holy month. The opening bell will be at 10am and last trades will take place at 1:30pm.

Banks are also keeping shorter hours for the month, with employees due in from 9am-2pm, while customers will have access to services from 9:30am-1:30pm, the central bank has said (pdf).

---

Before we dive into the day’s top headlines, NBE confirmed it purchased 6% stake in Fawry: The National Bank of Egypt (NBE) bought over 102.5 mn shares in the fintech company — exactly 6% — in a EGP 1 bn block transaction executed by Al Ahly Pharos Securities Brokerage, Fawry announced in an EGX disclosure (pdf) today. This brings NBE’s stake in the fintech darling to 12.54%, following Banque Misr in buying a chunk of Fawry, likely setting up the sale of the government-controlled stake to Abu Dhabi’s ADQ. The Abu Dhabi wealth fund will reportedly purchase an undisclosed stake in the company as part of a USD 2 bn investment agreed earlier this month.

THE BIG STORY TODAY-

IFC grabs 5% stake in consumer healthcare giant IDH: The International Finance Corporation (IFC) and investment management fund IFC MENA Fund have together acquired a 5% stake in Integrated Diagnostics Holdings (IDH), according to a disclosure (pdf) to the LSE. The stake purchase is part of “a larger overall engagement” between the IDH and IFC, which began back in May 2021 to back IDH’s dual listing on the EGX and LSE.

HAPPENING NOW-

SWVL ticker hits the Nasdaq: Homegrown mass transit app Swvl made its debut on the Nasdaq just minutes before we hit “send” on this afternoon’s edition. The Egypt-born, UAE-based company began trading on the Nasdaq via a merger with its SPAC, Queen’s Gambit Growth Capital, with shares debuting at USD 10 apiece.

^^We’ll have more on these stories and others in Sunday’s EnterpriseAM.

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

• Saudi Arabia pledges USD 15 bn to support Egypt through Ukraine crisis: Saudi Arabia deposited USD 5 bn with the Central Bank of Egypt, as our Gulf neighbors move to help shore up our finances amid global fallout from Russia’s war in Ukraine. In parallel, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund is looking to invest USD 10 bn in Egypt’s healthcare, education, agriculture and financial services sectors.
• Brownie points from IMF’s Georgieva: IMF head Kristalina Georgieva praised Egypt’s swift response to “head off the balance of payment shock and impact of rising food prices” caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine, and said the IMF will “support a program that helps to buttress reserves, protect the vulnerable, and strengthen private sector-led growth.”
• Offers roll in for the management of EV charging station company: Fourteen firms are vying to manage the state’s planned EV charging firm, including our friends at renewable energy giant Infinity have submitted an offer, along with a consortium of MB Engineering EV charging subsidiary Sha7en and an unnamed French company, as well as Saudi’s AlSharif Group.

---

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

Russia and Ukraine could resume peace talks tomorrow, following up on the last round of negotiations held in Istanbul this week, a top Ukrainian official said today, according to Bloomberg. The anticipated talks come as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of trying to “provoke a global food crisis” by targeting Ukrainian farms in its attacks, while NATO said Russia is regrouping to launch fresh attacks, not withdrawing.

Subscribe to Enterprise

???? CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

It’s a new month tomorrow. The key news triggers to keep your eye on:

• PMI: Purchasing managers’ index figures for March for Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar will be released on Tuesday, 5 April.
• Foreign reserves: March’s foreign reserves figures will be announced during the first week of the month.
• Inflation: Inflation figures for February are expected on Sunday, 10 April.

Companies have a little less than two weeks to file their first quarterly ESG compliance report: Listed firms and non-bank financial services companies need to submit their first quarterly ESG report by 10 April, the FRA said (pdf) on Sunday. The regulator is making it mandatory for corporates to publicly disclose their performance on key environmental, social and governance (ESG) metrics each year when they submit their annual financial statements, starting 2023. Reach out to Moustafa Taalab at InkankIR, our parent company, if you need some help.

Check out our full calendar on the web for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events, national holidays and news triggers.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- We’re getting ready to pack up our winter clothes until next year: Expect the mercury to rise to 34-36°C during the weekend as we head into a week-long heatwaves ahead of Ramadan, our favorite weather app indicates. At night, temperatures will fall to 16-20°C.

Astronomers have spotted what is believed to be the most distant star ever seen through the Hubble space telescope, according to the Associated Press. Earendel, which means rising light, is believed to be among the first generation of stars born after The Big Bang. The image of the star picked up by Hubble is believed to be from 12.9 bn years ago, breaking the previous record of 9 bn years. With the Big Bang believed to have taken place 13.8 bn years ago, this makes it one of the oldest stars we’ve seen. Astronomers expect to observe even more distant stars and galaxies with the newly launched (and pretty expensive) James Webb Space Telescope, which could “provide us with another piece of this cosmic puzzle that is the evolution of our universe,” National Science Foundation’s NOIRlab’s Vinicius Placco said.

El Salvador is targeting crypto enthusiasts for its USD 1 bn worth of so-called “volcano bonds,” after big bond investors turned their noses up at the offer, the Financial Times reports. Crypto exchange Bitfinex — which will host the issuance — told the FT it’s expecting interest from investors holding huge sums of BTC to help cover the bonds. Half of the proceeds are set to go to crypto investments, while the other half will fund El Salvador’s planned volcano-powered “BTC city,” where the digital coins would be mined using geothermal energy. Traditional investors are doubtful of the plan, arguing that it could make it harder for the country to access traditional debt markets and affect its relationship with global lender the IMF.

???? ON THE TUBE TONIGHT-

(all times CLT)

Three people given no names stuck in one place for 36 hours — what could go wrong? Windfall, a thriller on Netflix, tells the story of an average Joe (Nobody) who breaks into a vacation home owned by an arrogant b’naire (CEO) and his wife (just named Wife). After a brief stint of living the life of a tech b’naire in the empty house as he’s robbing it, Nobody (played by Jason Segel) gets caught by CEO (Jesse Plemons) and Wife (Lily Collins) at the last minute. Nobody doesn’t want to hurt CEO or Wife, but doesn’t want them to turn him in either — and so begins a process of negotiation as the character-driven thriller tracks their hopes for survival and success, while uncovering secrets within the trio.

⚽ We sadly have no football games to keep us occupied this evening — but they’ll make a comeback over the weekend, starting with Zamalek’s last game in the CAF Champions League group stage tomorrow at 6pm against Angola's Sagrada Esperança. The Egyptian club’s exit from the tournament is a foregone conclusion after it ranked third in its group.

Moving to the UK, Liverpool kicks off matchweek 31 on Saturday against Watford at 2:30pm tomorrow, marking the return of European leagues and the end of the international break.

We’re also watching six other games in the English Premier League on Saturday, with five of them with a 4pm kickoff: Manchester City v Burnley, Chelsea v Brentford, Brighton v Norwich City, Leeds v Southampton, and Wolves v Aston Villa. We’ll be catching our breath for half an hour before the game between Manchester United and Leicester City kicks off at 6:30pm.

La Liga will also be making a return on Saturday, with leading Real Madrid v Celta Vigo at 6:30pm, and other games: Getafe v Mallorca at 2pm, Levante v Villarreal at 4:15pm, and Atletico Madrid v Alaves at 9pm.

???? EAT THIS TONIGHT-

Sojo has great additions to both your iftar and sohour tables (if you like to go meats-heavy): Sausage and meat fans will hit the jackpot with Sojo, which offers a selection of homemade sausages that you can order to be delivered. The menu includes mini air dried chorizo sausages, Indian masala sausages, Thai sausages, German bratwurst sausages, loukaniko Greek sausages, Moroccan merguez sausages, and of course, oriental sausages. They also have a selection of sujuk and makanek, as well as different types of kofta: halaby, azmirily, and khashkhash. For the uninitiated: Every picture on Instagram comes with a description of the item and what it’s best served with.

???? OUT AND ABOUT-

(all times CLT)

Egyptian reggae band Meshwar will be performing tonight at 7:30pm at El Sawy Culturewheel to mark their 11th anniversary.

In the mood for some laughs? Downtown’s Rawabet is bringing Squadra stand-up comedy, which brings seven rising comedians together at 8pm.

We’re all in for the tunes of El Set, but how would that be with the iconic Oum Kalthoum as a puppet? Get ready for all of that at El Sakia Puppet Theater tonight 6pm as Oum Kalthoum is brought to life with performances of Seret El Hob and Daret El Ayam.

Another impulse night is landing tonight at Cairo Jazz Club 610 at 8pm with producers: Fur Coat, Jonas Saalbach & Ashmawy. Cairo Jazz is also holding a Cabaret night at their Agouza branch at 9pm.

We’re on a shopping spree ahead of Ramadan, and we’re all too excited for Bazarna holding their Ramadan Pop-Up Market tomorrow at New Cairo’s Downtown from 11am to 11pm.

Jordanian underground band Autostrad are performing at Zamalek Theater at 7pm tomorrow to wrap up Zamalek’s Music Week.

EARNINGS WATCH-

Orascom Investment Holding saw a bottom line of EGP 564.0 mn in FY2021 compared to losses of EGP 103.22 mn in FY2020, according to the company’s financials (pdf). Revenues rose 495.2% y-o-y to EGP 27.92 mn in 2021.

Domty’s bottom line fell 54% y-o-y to EGP 72.4 mn in 2021, according to the company’s financials (pdf). This came despite a 12% y-o-y increase in sales to EGP 3.4 bn as costs increased during the year.

Arabia Investments Holding’s bottom line increased 7.6% y-o-y to EGP 102.81 mn in 2021, according to the company’s financials (pdf). Operating revenues rose 5.0% y-o-y to EGP 1.69 bn in 2021.

---

MARKET ROUNDUP-

The EGX30 fell 0.01% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 1.22 bn (20.4% above the 90-day average). Local investors were net Sellers. The index is down 6% YTD.

In the green: Orascom Construction (+5.0%), Qalaa Holding (+4.9%) and GB Auto (+3.6%).

In the red: EKH (-4.4%), AMOC (-4.4%) and Medinet Nasr Housing (-2.7%).

We have an inequality issue with global renewable energy generation. Cheap financing might help fix it. Renewable energy production is unevenly distributed around the world. Places like the US, China, Japan, Germany and the UK are home to about two thirds of the globe’s solar panels and wind turbines despite containing less than half the world’s population, according to data from Bloomberg and Global Solar Atlas. Last year these same five economic powerhouses were responsible for bringing online some 40% in additional global solar capacity and 45% more wind power — and it’s not because of an abundance of sunshine or wind.

Renewable technologies have become relatively affordable and borrowing costs in developed markets has made it even easier: A combination of low interest rates and supportive government policy has helped stimulate increased adoption of renewable energy sources in developed countries. For rich countries with low interest rates, renewable energy facilities are much cheaper to build out than a fossil fuel based equivalent, even if you’re barely getting any sun. Add a little policy incentive — feed-in tariffs to drive solar adoption (like we’ve done here), for example — and it makes perfect sense how fast renewables have been growing in these countries.

The situation in emerging economies is quite the opposite: Across much of the developing world, renewable tech remains expensive thanks to higher interest rates pushing up the costs of energy transition. According to the International Energy Agency, interest payments on the upfront costs of installing solar and wind facilities can account for up to half of the price it needs to be sold at to be economically viable.

Even more frustrating is the fact that these are places strategically positioned to be generating a lot of renewable energy: Indonesia currently has some 484k sqm of land viable for solar panel installation that could generate 18% more than what the entire world consumed in 2019. Instead, renewables contributed to a measly 0.07% of its domestic electricity generation in 2021.

And this same dynamic is unfolding closer to home: Egypt and the US have about the same average wind speeds but the energy the US captures from wind power is about four times as much as what Egypt generated in 2020 — equivalent to only around 1.6% of our energy mix.

At the root of the problem still remains the question of financing: Thailand for example is one country that has fallen behind its solar production capabilities largely due to the high cost of financing. If borrowing costs in Thailand were the same as they are in Germany (around 39% cheaper) the country could add 60% more power from new wind projects, according to Bloomberg projections. The same is true for India, which could produce an estimated 40% more renewable power this year if it enjoyed the same interest rates as Germany.

That’s expected to be a core theme at this year’s COP27: International Cooperation Minister Rania Al Mashat has said that the climate conference, scheduled to be held in Sharm El Sheikh this November, is a chance to emphasize that emerging markets need financial support to meet climate commitments and to bring innovative financing such as concessional lending. Al Mashat touched on how a general lack of resources continues to hold back certain countries from rolling out green projects.

The widening gap in renewable energy development will need to be filled with the help of richer countries and financing institutions: Although the past decade has seen steps in the right direction, with a majority of new capacity installations made in developing countries between 2017 and 2019, rich countries still had around four times more capacity per capita (at 880 watts per capita) than developing countries in 2019. And worryingly, 2019 witnessed a slowdown in both renewable installation growth and EM-focused clean-energy funds, which declined by 8% to less than USD 150 bn in 2020. For the world to get on track to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, that figure will need to be more than USD 1 tn by the end of the decade.