Monday, 30 August 2010 at 14:08, Reuters, Cairo
Orascom Construction Industries, Egypt's biggest listed builder and fertiliser maker, said second-quarter net profit rose 41 per cent, helped by strong nitrate-based fertiliser prices.
The company said on Monday it made a net profit of $144 million, above a range of $108.8m to $140.4m given by nine brokers and bankers in a Reuters poll. The average forecast was $126.8m.
"The revenues seem good. The backlog slightly declined, which is an ongoing trend. I like the results on first glance," said Beltone analyst Omar Taha.
Orascom Construction said revenue rose 23 per cent to $1.34 billion, while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 44 percent to $269.4m.
The value of its backlog of unfinished projects dipped 3.4 per cent from the end of March to $6.3bn, stung by a weaker euro.
It also said it won $670m worth of new contracts in the quarter, bringing its total for the first half of 2010 to $1.47bn. Infrastructure work made up well over two-thirds of new awards, it said.
"While Egyptian Fertiliser Company (EFC) reported weaker results as a result of softer urea prices, OCI Nitrogen capitalised on the strong pricing environment for nitrate-based fertilisers offsetting the impact of urea prices," OCI said.
Its shares rose 1.5 per cent by 0945 GMT, while the benchmark index was up 0.3 per cent.
Ashraf Akhnoukh, senior equity sales trader at CIBC Brokerage, said Orascom's results were not enough to prompt a more significant share price move. "This result is not enough for the stock to rally much today," he said.
The group declared a cash dividend of $1 per share to be paid in September.
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