EFG-Hermes profit soars as banking revenue rises

Cairo: EFG-Hermes, Egypt's largest investment bank by market value, posted a record quarterly profit in the three months to the end of June as revenue from investment banking soared.

The bank's second-quarter net profit rose 30 per cent to 409.12 million Egyptian pounds (Dh282.59 million), according to Reuters calculation based on the first-half and first-quarter profits.

The bank said first-half net profit jumped 34 per cent to 757.7 million pounds. It did not give a separate net profit figure for the second quarter.

Revenue in the second quarter jumped 65 per cent to 871.3 million pounds. Total revenue from investment banking surged 95 per cent to 741 million pounds, it said.

"During the second quarter of 2008 the investment banking team simultaneously closed two IPOs as well as continued to build the pipeline on both equity raising and mergers and acquisitions," the bank said.

EFG-Hermes was a global coordinator for the sale of shares in Egyptian oil support company Maridive and Oil Services. The company raised at least 30 times what it was seeking in a private placement in April.

It was also the joint coordinator for the initial public offering of Egyptian property firm Palm Hills Developments.

Operations outside Egypt accounted for 35 per cent of total fee and commission income in the first half, up from 22 per cent in the same period a year earlier, the bank said, without giving second quarter figures.

EFG-Hermes operates in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Oman.