Egyptian Resorts sells shares after low land sales
CAIRO, Oct 8 (Reuters) - Egyptian tourism company and landowner Egyptian Resorts (EGTS.CA) is reselling 25 million treasury shares to boost profits after low land sales so far this year, the company said on Thursday.
The period for selling the shares is Oct. 7 to Nov. 6, the company's investor relations manager Abu Bakr Makhlouf said.
Property sales in Egypt have declined significantly this year as buyers have put off purchases and cancelled old contracts, analysts said.
"We expect to make a profit because we bought (the shares) when they were very low," Makhlouf said. "This will be good for us especially because we haven't had sales of lands this year."
The leisure company was in talks to sell three or four plots of land, but does not expect to complete more than one deal by the end of the year due to the poor economic climate, he said.
"It's not ideal. We'd prefer to have our revenue from selling land or selling utilities," Makhlouf said. "The bulk of our profits will come from selling treasury shares this year."
Egyptian Resorts bought back 51.5 million Egyptian pounds ($9.4 million) worth of stock for 2.06 pounds per share in October 2008 after the stock plunged from a high of over 7 pounds. Shares were trading at 2.48 pounds by 1152 GMT. ($1 = 5.4778 Egyptian pounds) (Reporting by Alexander Dziadosz)
