Pre-Trading Thoughts

Egypt’s net foreign reserves inched up to USD34.45 billion in March from USD34.35 billion in February.Suez Canal revenues jumped 39% y-o-y in March 2023 to an all-time monthly high of USD832.2 million.The government is studying the possibility of including EXPA in the government privatization program.Cabinet approved new minimum wage tiers for public-sector workers effective 1 April 2023.An American and a Russian firm intend to submit bids to build small nuclear reactors in Egypt.We raised our FV for MFPC to EGP199.80/share up from EGP140/share with a recommendation of Overweight given higher top line estimates, improvement in gross margins, healthy bottom line, and secure dividend policy.Eagle Chemicals is now offering to purchase PACH for EGP39.00/share, up from its previous EGP37.00/share bid. Phillip Morris raised its selling prices by EGP4-6/pack across its brands effective as of today. This move bodes well for EAST.Cabinet exempted 25k tons of frozen poultry from customs duties at the weekly cabinet meeting yesterday.Banque du Caire is offering a fixed, three-year certificate of deposit at a 19% rate, and a three-year declining-rate certificate that starts at 22% before falling to 18% in the second year and 16% in the third year. SAUD launched a three-year certificate of deposit at a variable interest rate of at least 19% disbursed monthly.MCRO announced dividends distribution for 2022 of EGP0.107/share. Record date is 13 April 2023 and distribution date for the first tranche is 20 April 2023 and distribution date for the second tranche is 31 October 2023.The Chamber of Real Estate Development in the Federation of Industries intends to hold a meeting next week to discuss linking unit selling prices to the USD rate.