Al Arafa Investments net income more than doubles

Ahram online, Sunday 19 Dec 2010

Egypt's oldest-traded textile company, Al Arafa Investments & consulting, more than doubled its profits, citing improved market conditions

Al Arafa Investments & Consulting, Egypt’s oldest publicly traded textile company, released its nine months profit numbers, which have more than doubled.

Al Arafa attributed the increase in profits to an improvement in market conditions, especially in the U.S, according to Bloomberg.

It is one of several Egyptian companies which export ready-made garments to the USA with zero tariffs. They do so under the Qualified Industrial Zones (QIZ) agreement, which stipulates that, in order to avoid tariffs, a certain percentage of the components used in their goods must be Israeli.

The Cairo-based company's net income after minority interest reached $19.1 million in the period of Feb. 1 - Oct. 31, up from $6.7 million the previous year, while its sales rose to $201.1 million, according to an emailed statement sent by the company today.

Shares of Al Arafa went up by 1.6 percent, reaching 65 cents as of 1:55 p.m., Cairo.

The company is currently valued at $169.8 million.

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