UPDATE 1-Egypt's Palm Hills posts Q1 profit of $37 mln

(Adds details, CEO quote)

CAIRO, May 12 (Reuters) - Egypt's Palm Hills Development PHDC.CA(PHDCq.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), which began trading on Egypt's stock exchange on Thursday, posted a first-quarter pretax profit of 199 million Egyptian pounds ($37 million) on Monday.

The company, a high-end Egyptian real estate developer, said it had an increasing number of contracted units, with total contract value of 930 million pounds, while consolidated net revenue for the period was 326 million pounds.

Quarterly comparison figures were not available because the company changed the financial reporting year-end from February to December in 2007. But Palm Hills said it had made pretax profit of 231 million pounds in the full year to end-December.

"Palm Hills has seen another period of sustained growth, which builds on our solid sales and project development track record," Palm Hills's Chief Executive Officer Yasseen Mansour said in a statement.

He added that "excellent economic and demographic fundamentals" in Egyptian real estate indicated positive prospects for the company.

The firm said its growth was primarily driven by new sales contracts for projects in the greater Cairo area and on Egypt's north coast.

U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) purchased a 5.5 percent stake in Palm Hills Development for an undisclosed sum in March, and said it could increase its stake to 10 percent.

Palm Hills is currently constructing or designing seven residential projects, five residential resort projects and five mixed-use projects.

Shares in the company were trading 6.3 percent lower at 19.76 pounds by 1100 GMT. ($1 = 5.36 Egyptian pounds) (Writing by Cynthia Johnston, editing by Will Waterman)