OUR ANALYST OF THE WEEK- Salma Gemiei, investment banking analyst at CI Capital (LinkedIn).

My name is Salma Gemiei and I’m an investment banking analyst at CI Capital. I studied actuarial science at AUC because I was always into numbers, business, and economics so it seemed like the perfect major that combined everything. After I graduated I realized that I didn’t want to go into the ins. field — which is the path most actuarial graduates follow — so I tried out investment banking instead during an internship. I really found myself in that line of work and I began my career at Beltone as an analyst and then a senior analyst before moving to my current position at CI Capital.

The best part of my job is that it’s dynamic. You do something different every week, even if you’re working on the same sector. There are so many different aspects you look at, from the company’s business operations and legalities all the way to how you would IPO or sell it. It really encompasses so many different things that you might not have gotten access to otherwise.

The worst part of my job is the long hours and stress. Long hours really do go hand in hand with investment banking [laughs]. It's also very fast-paced in the sense that a lot of requests are short notice and you just have to crank it out. However, I guess that’s part of what makes the job dynamic and fun in the first place.

I think non-banking financial services and healthcare are going to be attractive sectors this year. In general, there’s a lot of interest in NBFS, whether it’s in fintech, leasing, or microfinance. Meanwhile, in healthcare we’re still seeing a gap between supply and demand in the market. Seeing this, I think there’s a lot more room for these sectors to grow in 2022.

Covid has made us assess sectors differently. It differs from sector to sector, but there are factors and scenarios that we wouldn’t have posed before the pandemic. For example, while healthcare has always been defensive, covid actually had a negative impact on the sector at the beginning of the pandemic as the volume of visitors decreased, but it has since rebounded of course. The same happened with the education sector where we had to look at how the spread would impact teacher and student attendance or force teaching to go online.

My theory of investment is that there has to be a balanced risk appetite. The saying is true, “the greater the risk, the greater the reward,” but you also have to be comfortable with your investment. That comes by understanding the company and its fundamentals really well and making sure that your investment is well-founded.

The most important factor I look at before deciding on an investment is the management. Management really drives everything in the end. The business plan is only as good as the management that is able to implement it. We also pay a lot of attention to the internal rate of returns.

I’m hopeful about the EGX’s performance this year given the IPO and equity capital market momentum generated in 2021 and the strong market demand the offerings CI Capital worked on generated despite less-than-favorable market conditions. This, coupled with the fact that the market has yet to price in the resilient earning performance of Egyptian companies and the current low trading valuations, are supporting a possible EGX recovery in 2022.

I think the introduction of SPACs and the new bonds will be positive for the financial markets. The market is looking for more activity and liquidity and these new rollouts can generate excitement around the EGX. From a marketing standpoint, having the inclusion of more innovative products could also attract more funds to the bourse.

The last great thing I watched is Legally Blonde. I feel it depicts a woman successfully overcoming being in a male-dominated industry. That is something I’ve personally dealt with during my professional career. There are more women in the financial industry now and CI Capital has a lot of women in top management positions, which is something I really like about the firm. However, we still go to a lot of meetings with companies from different sectors and often you can be the only woman in the room.

I’m currently reading Bn USD Whale. It talks about a man who managed to steal bns from an investment fund over the span of years without regulatory bodies taking notice. It’s really good so far.

During my downtime, I like to destress [laughs]. I usually go out with family or friends and just try to immerse myself in something that isn’t work-related.

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MARKET ROUNDUP-

The EGX30 rose 1.0% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 782 mn (28.4% below the 90-day average). Local investors were net buyers. The index is down 2.9% YTD.

In the green: Orascom Development Egypt (+5.8%), Qalaa Holdings (+5.2%) and Palm Hills Development (+3.6%).

In the red: CIRA (-2.9%), TMG Holding (-2.0%) and Egypt Kuwait Holding-EGP (-1.2%).