Sunday, 29 August 2021

TONIGHT: Your abridged Speed Round + global covid regulatory updates. Also, it’s dramedy week on the tube

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, to your abridged version of EnterprisePM. Don’t let the shortened version fool you, as it was a busy day in the local press.

THE BIG STORIES OF THE DAY- Swvl plans post-Nasdaq investment spree: Homegrown mass transport startup Swvl says it plans to invest big over the next three years to expand globally. CFO Youssef Salem says that the company will spend USD 250-300 mn to enlarge its global footprint but stopped short of providing specifics. Swvl has previously said that it wants to enter Latin America and Europe, and expand in Africa after it completes its listing on the Nasdaq via the all-female SPAC Queen’s Gambit Growth Capital.

An Egyptian investor is threatening to launch arbitration proceedings against the Ethiopian government, seeking compensation for alleged damages suffered due to the ongoing Tigray conflict. Investor Alaa El Sakty is seeking USD 40 mn in damages after two of his companies based in Tigray capital Mekelle suffered losses due to the instability, and says he will take the case to the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes in Washington if Addis Ababa doesn’t pay up.

The earnings recovery continues: It was the turn of EGX-listed Cleopatra Hospitals Group and Orascom Construction to report their 2Q financials today. Coming off a difficult second quarter in 2020, both companies’ earnings bounced back this year, with Orascom’s net income almost tripling and CHG’s bottom line nearly doubling.

Catch all of these stories in greater detail in tomorrow morning’s EnterpriseAM.

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

THE BIG STORY ABROAD- Intelligence warnings of an IS bomb threat in Kabul is still holding the world’s attention this afternoon.

Otherwise the award for understatement of the month goes to Boris Johnson: “We would not have wished to leave in this way,” UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said after the last UK personnel were evacuated from Afghanistan, leaving behind thousands of British passport and visa holders. But Johnson remained optimistic, promising to “engage with the Taliban” if they respected women’s rights, stopped harboring terrorist groups, and gave safe passage to refugees. Elsewhere in la-la-land, Britain and France will on Monday lobby the UN to set up a “safe zone” in Kabul for those still trying to escape after the US airlift ends on Tuesday.

???? CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

We’re almost at the start of a new month. Here are the key news triggers coming up during the first half of September:

  • PMI: August’s PMI figures for Egypt, KSA and the UAE will land on Sunday, 5 September.
  • Foreign reserves: The central bank will release foreign reserves figures for August sometime next week.
  • Inflation: Inflation data for August will drop on Thursday, 9 September.
  • Interest rates: The Central Bank of Egypt will meet to review interest rates on Thursday, 16 September.

OPEC+ countries are widely expected to proceed with plans to undo oil production cuts when they meet on Wednesday as oil prices recover, according to a Bloomberg survey. The majority of traders and analysts surveyed agree that the 23-nation alliance — led by Saudi Arabia and Russia — will move ahead with the planned output hike in their meeting this week as the “uncertainties over the world economy and the growth recovery in China have largely peeled away,” one analyst said, noting that OPEC+ will likely stick to the plan if the recovery continues. OPEC+ had reached an agreement late last month to gradually increase production till the end of 2022, extending the supply cuts to December 2022 instead of April.

Or not: OPEC+ could reconsider the output hikes after all, Kuwait’s oil minister told Reuters this morning. “The markets are slowing. Since COVID-19 has begun its fourth wave in some areas, we must be careful and reconsider this increase. There may be a halt to the 400,000 (bpd) increase,” Mohammad Abdulatif al-Fares said. He also said there was worry about the effect of a fourth wave on the oil industry and East Asian economies, in particular China.

Egypt hosts Digi Sign Africa this week: The three-day advertising and digital printing exhibition gets underway at the Cairo International Convention Centre on Wednesday, 1 September.

Cypriot prez in town this week: President Nicos Anastasiades arrives in Cairo on Saturday, 4 September for a joint Egypt-Cyprus summit.

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