Egypt's stock exchange halted trading in Ezz Steel and Al Ezz Dekheila for failing to comply with its demand for full financial statements.
"Both stocks have been temporarily suspended," Mohamed Abdel-Salam, the chairman of the Egyptian Exchange, said yesterday. "The companies have contacted the exchange and committed to provide the statements by the end of this week," he said.
The stock exchange said on July 6 that it gave the companies 15 days to report their results for all of last year and for this year's first quarter or face a trading suspension. Ezz Steel provided a 2010 standalone statement on July 19, reporting a 53 per cent drop in net income to 116.1 million Egyptian pounds. Al Ezz Dekheila is 55 per cent owned by Ezz Steel, whose former chairman, Ahmed Al Ezz, is one of several businessmen who have been investigated by the country's prosecutor general this year for possible corruption. He has denied all wrongdoing.
Al Ezz Dekheila "also has more than 25 per cent of its shares owned by several entities, which under Egyptian law requires statements to be checked by the central auditing organisation", Mr Abdel-Salam said. "Due to the association of the company with Ahmed Al Ezz, it's taken more time. The body needs to study the statements more carefully, to make sure everything is OK and has no problems," he said.
Ezz Steel and Al Ezz Dekheila last traded on Thursday at 9.65 Egyptian pounds and 641.44 pounds, respectively. In March, the investment bank CI Capital downgraded Ezz Steel from "strong buy" to "sell". "Given the ongoing unrest, we believe construction and real estate are among the sectors that will be negatively affected, as individuals will be reluctant to buy new real estate units, given the existence of a potential liquidity problem that will hinder the payment of related instalments," said Hany Mohamed Samy, an analyst at the Cairo bank.
"Consequently, local real estate developers will not commence new projects, leading to lower demand for steel rebars.
"Moreover, we believe the current political instability in the [Middle East and North Africa] region and the hike in crude oil prices will delay the global economic recovery, dealing further damage to the industry."
halsayegh@thenational.ae
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Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week
Match info
Uefa Champions League Group C
Liverpool v Napoli, midnight
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
Five expert hiking tips
Always check the weather forecast before setting off
Make sure you have plenty of water
Set off early to avoid sudden weather changes in the afternoon
Wear appropriate clothing and footwear
Take your litter home with you
Mia Man’s tips for fermentation
- Start with a simple recipe such as yogurt or sauerkraut
- Keep your hands and kitchen tools clean. Sanitize knives, cutting boards, tongs and storage jars with boiling water before you start.
- Mold is bad: the colour pink is a sign of mold. If yogurt turns pink as it ferments, you need to discard it and start again. For kraut, if you remove the top leaves and see any sign of mold, you should discard the batch.
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TOURNAMENT INFO
Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifier
Jul 3- 14, in the Netherlands
The top two teams will qualify to play at the World T20 in the West Indies in November
UAE squad
Humaira Tasneem (captain), Chamani Seneviratne, Subha Srinivasan, Neha Sharma, Kavisha Kumari, Judit Cleetus, Chaya Mughal, Roopa Nagraj, Heena Hotchandani, Namita D’Souza, Ishani Senevirathne, Esha Oza, Nisha Ali, Udeni Kuruppuarachchi
England XI for second Test
Rory Burns, Keaton Jennings, Ben Stokes, Joe Root (c), Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Ben Foakes (wk), Sam Curran, Adil Rashid, Jack Leach, James Anderson
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Key changes
Commission caps
For life insurance products with a savings component, Peter Hodgins of Clyde & Co said different caps apply to the saving and protection elements:
• For the saving component, a cap of 4.5 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 90 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• On the protection component, there is a cap of 10 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 160 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• Indemnity commission, the amount of commission that can be advanced to a product salesperson, can be 50 per cent of the annualised premium for the first year or 50 per cent of the total commissions on the policy calculated.
• The remaining commission after deduction of the indemnity commission is paid equally over the premium payment term.
• For pure protection products, which only offer a life insurance component, the maximum commission will be 10 per cent of the annualised premium multiplied by the length of the policy in years.
Disclosure
Customers must now be provided with a full illustration of the product they are buying to ensure they understand the potential returns on savings products as well as the effects of any charges. There is also a “free-look” period of 30 days, where insurers must provide a full refund if the buyer wishes to cancel the policy.
“The illustration should provide for at least two scenarios to illustrate the performance of the product,” said Mr Hodgins. “All illustrations are required to be signed by the customer.”
Another illustration must outline surrender charges to ensure they understand the costs of exiting a fixed-term product early.
Illustrations must also be kept updatedand insurers must provide information on the top five investment funds available annually, including at least five years' performance data.
“This may be segregated based on the risk appetite of the customer (in which case, the top five funds for each segment must be provided),” said Mr Hodgins.
Product providers must also disclose the ratio of protection benefit to savings benefits. If a protection benefit ratio is less than 10 per cent "the product must carry a warning stating that it has limited or no protection benefit" Mr Hodgins added.
North Pole stats
Distance covered: 160km
Temperature: -40°C
Weight of equipment: 45kg
Altitude (metres above sea level): 0
Terrain: Ice rock
South Pole stats
Distance covered: 130km
Temperature: -50°C
Weight of equipment: 50kg
Altitude (metres above sea level): 3,300
Terrain: Flat ice
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Analysis
Members of Syria's Alawite minority community face threat in their heartland after one of the deadliest days in country’s recent history. Read more