Credit Agricole Egypt reports $20m profit

Cairo: Credit Agricole Egypt, Egypt's fourth-largest bank by market value, posted a decline in second-quarter earnings, falling short of expectations, as it set aside money as an allowance for bad loans.

The Egyptian bank said it made 108 million Egyptian pounds ($20 million) in the three months to the end of June compared with 118.2 million pounds in the same period a year earlier.

Beltone Financial had forecast a net profit of 122.54 million pounds and HC Securities 145.70 million pounds.

"The results are lower than our estimates, mostly due to weaker net interest income and fees and commissions than what we expected," said Hatem Alaa, senior analyst at HC Securities in Cairo.