NBK Egypt board agrees to EGX delisting: The board of directors at the National Bank of Kuwait (Egypt) has agreed to voluntarily delist from the EGX, the bank said in a statement (pdf) to the EGX this morning. Prime Capital has been appointed as a financial advisor to value the subsidiary, which it will present to shareholders at an extraordinary general assembly meeting. A final decision will be taken three months afterwards.

This is not bad news for the EGX: The bank’s shares are rather illiquid, with less than 80k of them changing hands today, according to Reuters data. By comparison, 1.2 mn shares of CIB, 710k shares of EFG Hermes and 315k shares of Edita were bought and sold today. Retail darling Qalaa Holding saw some 6 mn shares change hands today.

EARNINGS WATCH- State-owned Telecom Egypt’s (TE) bottom line more than doubled to EGP 1.75 bn in 2Q2021, compared to EGP 748.4 mn the same period last year, according to the telecom operator’s financial results (pdf). The company attributed the profit growth to a rise in investment income from Vodafone Egypt, in which it holds a 45% stake, and FX gains. Revenues also rose to EGP 8.97 bn in 2Q2021 from EGP 7.94 bn in the same quarter of 2020. TE said it received EGP 3.6 bn in income from Vodafone in July. Reuters took note of the figures.

Raya Contact Center’s bottom line fell 25% to EGP 7.71 mn in 2Q2021, from EGP 10.35 mn in 2Q2020, according to the company’s financial results (pdf). Revenues were essentially flat, coming in at EGP 193.7 mn compared to EGP 192.3 mn in the same period of 2020.

Transport player Egytrans saw its bottom line decline to EGP 6.4 mn in 1H2021, compared to EGP 9.6 mn in 1H2020, based on the company’s financial results (pdf). Revenues rose to EGP 123.5 mn in 1H2021 from EGP 101.4 mn during the first six months of 2020.

Sidpec continues to recover from last year’s turmoil: Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals (Sidpec) announced a bottom line of EGP 283 mn in 1H2021, against losses of EGP 28 mn during the same half a year earlier, according to the company’s financial results (pdf). Revenues jumped almost 60% to EGP 2.67 bn in 1H2021, compared to EGP 1.67 bn last year.

MARKET WATCH-

The EGX30 rose 0.5% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 1.91 bn (31.4% above the 90-day average). Foreign investors were net buyers. The index is up 0.1% YTD.

In the green: Egyptian Resorts Company (+3.4%), Heliopolis Housing (+2.7%) and TMG Holding (+1.8%).

In the red: Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals (-6.4%), Ezz Steel (-3.5%) and Orascom Development Egypt (-2.9%).