EARNINGS WATCH- ‘Tis the season, ladies and gentlemen. Look for a flood of earnings reports from now through the mid-August filing deadline for 2Q/1H results before we all collapse into a heap and enjoy a very long Eid Al-Adha break.

CIB posts record second-quarter earnings. Our friends at Egypt’s leading private-sector bank delivered a 31% y-o-y rise in 2Q2018 net income to EGP 2.40 bn on revenues of EGP 5 bn (up 41% y-o-y). Net income for the first half of the year grew 24% y-o-y, coming in at EGP 4.42 bn. Commenting on the results, management noted that topline growth was backed mainly by an improvement in local currency spreads “while preserving deposit market share, alongside a considerable pick-up in foreign currency lending activity.” CIB maintained its capital adequacy ratio at 18% despite a surge in sovereign yields, which led to a negative revaluation of its trading bond portfolio. Nonetheless, the bank’s CAR was well above the minimum requirement. Management is confident that it will comfortably exceed the higher capital adequacy requirement set to come into effect 2019. “We keep an eye open, however, in order to assure the sustainability of capital levels above regulators’ requisites notwithstanding unfavorable market dynamics that may arise in the near future.” You can read CIB’s full earnings release here (pdf).

CI Capital Holding reported an 88% y-o-y in net profit after tax to EGP 161.3 mn in 1H2018, according to the company’s earnings release (pdf). Revenues for the period closed at EGP 1.1 bn (+46% y-o-y).

Palm Hills Development (PHD) reported a net profit after tax of EGP 439.9 mn in 1H2018, up from EGP 349.3 mn in the same period last year, according to an EGX filing.

Amer Group Holding’s net profit after tax fell 13.0% y-o-y to EGP 55.1 mn in 1H2018, down from EGP 63.3 mn in 1H2017, according to an EGX filing. Revenues dropped 22.5% y-o-y in the first half to 802 mn.