Gordon Ramsay’s Egypt street-food pick is getting harder to afford

Newsletter

28 Feb 2023

Gordon Ramsay’s Egypt street-food pick is getting harder to afford. Spiraling food prices are putting Koshary, a traditional food of the working class, beyond the reach of Egypt’s poorest. Bloomberg’s new Koshary Index shows the average price of ingredients for a helping jumped an annual 58.9% in December, almost triple the urban inflation rate of 21.3%. Egypt’s economy has been battered by higher import bills over the past year. A string of currency devaluations sought to tackle a foreign-currency crunch, but have helped make many foodstuffs more expensive than ever. (Bloomberg)

Officials from Egypt and Qatar signed an agreement today to eliminate dual taxation on capital gains, interest, income tax, corporate profits, and dividends
The agreement will help create a “tangible” impact on boosting and encouraging Qatari investments in Egypt, Qatari Prime Minister Khalid Bin Khalifa Bin Abdulaziz Al Thani was quoted said. The agreement came during Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly’s visit to the country, which saw him and other key cabinet members meet with the Qatari PM and Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, along with other members of the Qatari cabinet. (Arab Finance)
Moreover, the Qatari Emir vowed that the “coming period” will see “increased Qatari investments” in Egypt
As Madbouly showcased some potential areas of investment and highlighted the government’s efforts to boost local and foreign investments in the country. The visit will also see Egyptian officials meet with representatives from the Qatari Businessmen Association and the country’s chamber of commerce and industry. (Arab Finance)
The House will discuss and vote on bills that will extend the government’s expat car import scheme and exempt phone components from being charged development fees
It will also discuss and vote on three foreign agreements on human rights, economic governance, and the Montreal Protocol, an environmental pact. Meanwhile, the House Industrial Committee will review the government’s industrial strategy. Social Solidarity Minister Nevine El Qabbaj will be in the hot seat to answer questions from MPs on pensions, social protection programs, and services offered to disabled people. (Hapi Journal)
Edita to fully acquire non-listed company in food industry
Edita Food Industries’ board of directors approved to acquire 100% of the issued share capital of a non-listed company on the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) that operates within the food industry. The completion of the acquisition transaction is subject to fulfilling all legal and regulatory requirements. (Hapi Journal)
EFG Hermes Kenya enables digital end-to-end registration of new trading accounts
EFG Hermes Kenya has launched EFG Hermes One Kenya App, an all-new digital onboarding process for its online trading platform. The new app is an integral part of the firm’s strategy to promote financial inclusion in Kenya and the frontier markets in which it operates. The seamless service enables retail investors to execute trades, access real-time stock quotes, and place, track, review, edit, and cancel open orders. In real time, investors are able to build, monitor, and customize equity watch lists for individual stocks and stock portfolios. (Hapi Journal)
Oriental Weavers’ net income fell 22% y-o-y to 944 million EGP in 2022
Revenues for the year rose 16.2% to 13.3 billion EGP. On a 4Q basis, net income jumped 44% y-o-y to 360 million EGP, while revenues rose 25.3% to 3.8 billion EGP. The EGX30 fell 0.7% at yesterday’s close on turnover of 1.90 billion EGP (4.4% below the 90-day average). Local investors were net buyers. The index is up 17.1% YTD. (EGX)
GB Auto’s profits soar 608.9% YoY in 2022
GB Auto reported an 608.9% year-on-year (YoY) surge in its net profits after tax and minority interest, recording 9.98 billion EGP in 2022, compared to 1.41 billion EGP in 2021. The company attributed the nearly seven-fold increase in net profit last year to the realized capital gain in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2022. Sales revenue went down 5.2% last year to 29.79 billion EGP from 31.43 billion EGP in the prior year. (Al Mal)
MNHD’s gross contracted sales more than tripled to a record 11.2 billion EGP on the sale of 3.2k units in 2022
Triple the number of units it sold a year before. More than half of sales were in the company’s Taj City project, with the remainder coming from Sarai. Meanwhile, deliveries doubled to more than 2k during the year. MNHD’s newly-acquired subsidiaries Minka and related special purpose vehicle EgyCan generated another 1.2 billion EGP in sales that didn’t show up in MNHD’s consolidated results 2022. (Mubasher)
AMAN Holding plans to reach GTV of 56 million RGP in 2023
Egyptian fintech company AMAN Holding is targeting to reach a gross transaction value (GTV) of 56 billon EGP by the end of the current year and to expand its horizon to several markets, including Saudi Arabia and Nigeria. The company is also aiming to launch Aman prepaid card, a B2B supply chain, a new digital money circle service via its networks. (Al Mal)
Egypt Kuwait Holding plans to invest 170 million USD across at least three sectors this year
The investment company – which is dual listed on the Egyptian and Kuwaiti stock exchanges – will target the oil and gas, electricity and manufacturing sectors, in addition to raising EKH's stakes in its affiliated businesses. The news follows the announcement of EKH’s record net income last year, which jumped 41% to 241 million USD. EKH will self-finance 60%–70% of the investments, with bank financing covering the remaining 30-40%. (Bloomberg Asharq)