TMG’s full-year net profit falls 39%

Egypt’s Talaat Moustafa Group said its full-year net profit fell 39 per cent last year when the real estate industry was thrown into turmoil by a popular uprising and disputes over land ownership. The decline was narrower than a 44 per cent drop in first-half earnings. TMG reported full-year profit of 577.5 million Egyptian pounds ($95.7 million), down from 940 million in 2010. Total sales for projects were around 3 billion pounds, down from 4 billion a year earlier. Revenue - including money received once clients take ownership of properties - slipped to 5.1 billion from 5.34 billion, the company said in a statement. TMG shares were down 2 per cent at 4.96 pounds by 0955 GMT on Wednesday, the biggest decliners on Egypt’s main index. Both revenue and net income were below the forecasts of some Cairo-based analysts, but they said they would wait for more detailed results before taking a considered view. “Still I think the results look positive,” said Monsef Morsy of Pharos, who has a ‘buy’ rating on TMG and was impressed with the revenue number given the company’s challenges last year. “It implies TMG was working quite well still in 2011. As for the bottom line, it’s not clear what led to the decline.