OUR ANALYST OF THE WEEK- Dalia Bonna, assistant vice president at Pharos Holding for Financial Investments (LinkedIn).

My name is Dalia Bonna and I’m the assistant vice president at Pharos, covering banking and NBFS services in Egypt. Banking for me is the most complex sector and it’s a constant learning process. I graduated from AUC with a bachelor in business administration and double minor in economics and mathematics. I joined Pharos three months after graduating and the firm has really given me the chance to get a deep exposure at a young age as they don’t stick to a complex corporate hierarchy.

I consider myself very lucky for joining Pharos when I did. It was September 2016, two months before the EGP floatation, and I started off my career during a very interesting period. I enjoyed the constant necessary hands-on and feeling like I was a part of this huge economic event. Of course, the pandemic has managed to compete with that time as a contender for an apocalyptic time in the finance industry [laughs].

The best part of my job is that there's always more to know. The sky's the limit. There is no right way to do things or right answers: for every opinion, there is a counter opinion. That just means that you have to be even more creative in how you value companies, write reports, and communicate ideas.

The worst part of the job is working with weak disclosures. It feels like you’re blindfolded or handicapped and trying to make sense of what little you have to turn it into something meaningful. Of course, never being able to disconnect or relax is also overwhelming at times.

Work from home has worked well for me. I’m more focused because there are less distractions and I’m more able to organize my time inside and outside of work. I’m grateful that this pandemic has normalized working from home for us and our clients. However, I wouldn’t stick to this 100%, I do think going to the office is important as well, so maybe a mix of both would be ideal.

My theory of investment is to diversify, be agile, and be responsive to maximize your returns. I think moderation is my life motto and I apply it to everything. When investing, you should never put all your eggs in one basket, or in this case, one stock or sector.

Before recommending an investment I always focus on the company’s fundamentals. I also look at how the story of the stock makes sense against the economy. The impact of the regulatory environment plays a very important role, especially in banking because it's highly regulated. And then I narrow it down to clients’ stress tolerance, investment objective, and whether it's a long or short-term investment.

Since covid, I’ve started putting more emphasis on portfolio quality when looking at banking stocks. This is a major metric that has major consequences on profitability as non-performing loans are very possible after the pandemic. That also means looking at the bank’s provisions and capital base.

We’re almost halfway through 2021 and I think it’s been a better year for everyone than 2020. We’re on the right track on the ground and on the macro front we’ve continued to grow with a positive economic outlook going forward.

I’m more optimistic about 2022 though — for all sectors and for banking in particular. The banking sector spent a few years experiencing new regulations and working to implement them, pushing profitability down on its priority list. However, next year the impact of all these changes will finally make themselves clear and we expect the quality of portfolios to be better. For the general economy, I think that there has been a lot of pent up investment waiting for Egypt to stabilize and once the vaccine rollout progresses, we’ll finally see it implemented.

The pandemic also normalized uncertainty, supporting a more confident outlook for 2022 globally. The perception of risk has changed for many people as they will now accept a higher level of uncertainty. The events of covid made us kind of immune to weird unexpected events happening [laughs].

If I had to switch to cover another sector, I’d go for oil and gas because of the story behind it. I think it’s interesting that it’s greatly influenced by geopolitical factors that can sometimes transcend the normal supply and demand.

The last great thing I watched is the German series Dark. It’s very heavy and definitely not a TV show to relax to, but I felt it was beautifully put together with unexpected twists and turns. I consider it a masterpiece.

The last great thing I read is Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. It’s a fantastic book and just what I needed at the time. It made me more self-aware and able to stay in the present moment.

When I’m not on the clock, I like to spend time with family or friends. I’m a fan of engaging in any kind of physical activity and I’ve tried a ton of sports such as basketball, swimming, and gymnastics. During the past period, I’ve been consistent with cross fit training. Of course, when there isn’t a pandemic going on, I love to travel. My favorite destination is El Nido, which is an Island in the Philippines.

If I had to switch jobs to anything else, I would be a pilot so I could travel as much as I can. Honestly, I don’t mind working as anything that would get me on a plane every few days.

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THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 rose 1.0% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 1.67 bn (25.8% above the 90-day average). Foreign investors were net sellers. The index is down 0.6% YTD.

In the green: ElSewedy Electric (+6.5%), GB Auto (+6.2%) and EKH (+4.2%).

In the red: Export Development Bank (-1.8%), Ibnsina Pharma (-0.7%) and CIB (-0.5%).