Cairo: Egypt's Alexandria Cement posted a 10 per cent gain in net profit for the first nine months of 2010 to 404.5 million Egyptian pounds (Dh258 million), the stock exchange said yesterday.

The firm, a subsidiary of Greek cement maker Titan Cement, had reported net profit of 366.4 million pounds in the same period last year.

Ezz Dekheila Steel, a unit of Ezz Steel, posted a 52.2 per cent rise in its nine-month net profit to 559.1 million pounds. The firm reported a net profit of 367.4 million pounds in the same period a year ago, the stock exchange said yesterday.

Ezz Steel, Egypt's largest steel producer, holds a 55 per cent stake in Ezz Dekheila.

El Sewedy Electric said its nine-month net profit rose 30 per cent year-on-year to 726.8 million pounds.

The biggest Arab cable maker by market value made a net profit of 559.6 million pounds in the same period a year earlier, the bourse said yesterday.

Net profit

The bourse statement did not give a third-quarter net profit, but the 9-month figure implied a third-quarter net profit of 190.7 million pounds based on calculations of a first-half net profit of 536.1 million pounds.

Appliance maker Olympic Group posted a 19 per cent drop in nine-month net profit to 119.9 million pounds. Net profit in the first nine months of 2009 was 148.3 million pounds, the bourse statement added. It did not provide further details.

State-owned Telecom Egypt, the only provider of fixed-line services in the country, Thursday said net profit in the third quarter fell 7.3 per cent fell to 766 million pounds ($133 million) from a year ago as seasonality hit the company's retail business.

The third-quarter result still exceeded analysts' estimates at regional investment bank EFG-Hermes, which had pencilled in an 614 million pounds effort for the period.

"The timing of Ramadan this year [coinciding with August] has had some effect on retail services," Telecom Egypt said in an e-mailed statement.

Telecom Egypt said earnings per share for the three months ended September 30 stood at 0.45 pound compared with 0.48 pound in the year earlier period. The average revenue per user for the third quarter declined 12.5 per cent to 53 pounds, the company added.