South Korea’s ongoing portfolio of development cooperation with Egypt reached 14 projects with total investments of 50 million USD in the fields of transportation and education
For our top talks today, first, South Korea’s ongoing portfolio of development cooperation with Egypt reached 14 projects with total investments of 50 million USD in the fields of transportation and education. SU added that five development projects are scheduled to be completed by the end of 2021, while the remaining nine projects are set to be completed in 2022. It is worthy to mention that both countries are cooperating to launch big future projects, especially after selecting Egypt as a priority country for Official Development Assistance (ODA) and a key development partner in the MENA region during the period (2021-2025). (Daily News)
- Second, Egypt and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) signed seven grants worth 125 million USD to support education, health and other development projects.
Around 50 million USD of the money will be allocated for education, with 31 million USD going to higher education and 17 million USD being earmarked for basic education. A total of 28 million USD will go towards stimulating trade and investment while 27 million USD will be allocated to improving economic governance. Smaller grants include 13 million USD for health, 5 million f USD or agriculture and rural development, and 4 million USD for joint Egyptian-American projects in science and tech. (Arab Finance)
- Turning to our startup talks, Egyptian social commerce startup Taager joined a number of regional and global VCs in a 1.7 million USD pre-seed round held by Lahore-based B2B ecommerce platform Zarya.
Zarya is a digital wholesale platform for social sellers & retailers aiming to elevate bottom lines for smaller-sized sellers. Zarya aims to eliminate the friction smaller-scale sellers face in sourcing products, arranging the delivery, and collecting payment. In July, Taager secured 6.4 million USD in seed investment from a number of VCs and angel investors. (MAGNiTT)
- Also, the delivery startup ShipBlu raised 2.4 million USD in a seed round. The round was led by Saudi Arabia’s Nama Ventures. The company did not give further details regarding how the fund would be deployed.
Ali Nasser, co-founder of ShipBlu, revealed that the company plans to expand its network and infrastructure across Egypt within the coming months. The new round is considered the company’s second capital injection in recent months. (TechCrunch)
- Equally important, the listing committee at the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) has decided to list the capital increase of Egyptian Chemical Industries (KIMA) (EGCH), upon which the authorized capital will increase to 8 billion EGP from 6 billion EGP.
Moreover, the issued and paid-up capital increase will be listed as it will rise to 5.93 billion EGP from 4.46 billion EGP. The increase in issued and paid-up capital amounts to 1.46 billion EGP distributed over 293.59 million shares at a nominal value of 5 EGP per share. The company’s shares after the capital increase will be listed on the EGX’s database as of Monday, November 8th, 2021. KIMA is an Egypt-based nitrogen-based fertilizers manufacturing leader and is engaged in the agricultural chemicals industry sector. (EGX)
- Moreover, October Pharma (OCPH) achieved a net profit after tax of 100.32 million EGP in the first nine months of 2021, compared to a profit of 60.66 million EGP in the year-ago period.
Earnings per share (EPS) stood at 13.38 EGP in the nine-month period ended September 20th, 2021, compared to EPS of 8.09 EGP in the same period of 2020. Net sales reached 489.07 million EGP in the January-September period of 2021, rising from 379.20 million EGP in the same period of 2020. (EGX)
- In addition, Middle East Glass Manufacturing Co (MEGM) has signed a sale contract of its subsidiary Medco Plast for Wrapping and Packaging Systems on November 1st, 2021.
The company has reached a final agreement with the buyer to sell Medco Plast at 230.16 EGP per share, the statement highlighted. MEGM is an Egypt-based company primarily engaged in the manufacture, sale, and export of glass containers in the Middle East and North Africa region. The company’s product solutions include food jars, bottles, juice, carbonated bottles, and pharma, among others. (EGX)
- Furthermore, Emaar Misr for Development (EMFD) recorded a consolidated net profit of 2.81 billion EGP in the January-September period of 2021, compared to a profit of 1.18 billion EGP in the year-ago period.
Consolidated revenue surged to 7.62 billion EGP in the first nine months of 2021 from 2.43 billion EGP in the same period of 2020. In the third quarter (Q3) of 2021, the real estate developer’s consolidated net profit rose to 1.48 billion EGP from 526.64 million EGP in Q3-2020. At the level of the standalone financial statement, Emaar Misr achieved a standalone net profit of 2.81 billion EGP in the January-September period of 2021, compared to a profit of 1.83 billion EGP in the prior-year period. (EGX)
- Likewise, the profits of Emaar Misr for Development jumped 132% during the first 9 months of this year to reach 2.8 billion EGP, compared to net profits of 1.1 billion EGP during the same period of 2020. The company’s revenues rose during the nine months to record 7.62 billion EGP at the end of September, compared to 2.43 billion EGP during the same period last year.
The decision included that these companies practice the same activity as the company, or similar or complementary to the company's activity, whether directly or indirectly. The profits of Emaar Misr for Development doubled during the first half of this year to record 1.33 billion EGP, compared to 656.5 million EGP during the first half of last year. The company's revenues jumped during the first half of the year to reach 3.7 billion EGP, compared to 1 billion EGP during the comparable period.
- Also, the head of the Korean giant SK Group, Choi Tae-won, has pledged to spend about 26 billion USD on electric vehicle batteries, hydrogen and other environmentally friendly businesses in the United States in a move to join US efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
This figure is part of the 52 billion USD that SK has committed to investing in the United States by 2030. Choi said that SK aims to reduce carbon emissions by 200 million tons, which is 1% of the global goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions of 21 billion tons by 2030. SK ON, the new battery unit of the SK Group, is building a battery plant in Kentucky and another in Tennessee with Ford Motor Company as part of a 11.4 billion USD deal. The annual production capacity of the stations is 129 gigawatt-hours, which is enough to produce 2.15 million electric vehicles annually. (Yonhap Agency)
- And finally, for our top abroad talk, we need to mention that sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, said that the emirate had approved the launch of the Market Maker Fund with a value of 2 billion AED (545 million USD) to promote trading in the stock market, and that it aims to list ten state-backed companies on the stock exchange.
The launch of the Market Maker Fund aims to make Dubai a more competitive market in the face of the two largest stock exchanges in the region, Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi, which are witnessing larger listings and higher liquidity. It is noteworthy that in September, the Department of Economic Development in Dubai announced the economic growth forecast for the emirate during the next phase, expecting to achieve a growth rate of 3.1% in 2021, and to accelerate the rate in 2022 to record 3.4%, supported by several factors, the most important of which is the hosting of “Expo 2020 Dubai”. (Reuters)
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