El Sewedy Electric the Arab world's biggest listed cable maker, on Monday reported a 32 per cent drop in first-quarter net income to LE171.3 million ($28.8m).

Sewedy, which has production plants in Egypt and 10 other countries, also makes wind farm equipment.

The company had in March slashed its forecast for net profit growth in the current year to 1 per cent from 20 per cent due to political turmoil in Egypt and Libya. On Monday it said the first three months of 2011 were "challenging".

Sewedy's consolidated revenue raised by 21 per cent to LE3.6bn in the first quarter of 2011 compared with a year earlier, a company statement said.

"Although there is a decline in net income, it exceeded expectations by more than 40 per cent," said Allen Sandeeb, an analyst in Beltone Financial.

"Revenues increased year-on-year because non-cable operations like transformers, meters, and turnkey (projects) contributed more in 2011," he said.