An Annual General Meeting (AGM), held last week by the Egyptian Flat Glass Company (EFGC), evoked heated exchanges between company executives and the company’s individual shareholders, over the proposed sale of the joint-stock company to an anchor investor.
The private investors, subscribed to 10 percent of the company’ shares, branded the decision “a crime against public money”, at a time when the company is profit making. The shareholders said they were surprised to learn from the media that the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) has put up for sale 80.5 percent of the company’s shares.
NBE was placed in charge of handling EFGC’s portfolio on behalf of the company’s other shareholders—several public sector banks, which hold nearly 70 percent of the shares, and private companies, Pilkington and the Saudi-Egyptian Industrial Development Company, each holding a 10 percent stake in the company.
EFGC posted a 71 percent rise in net profits in the financial year 2001. Net profit totaled EP39.27 million ($8.46 million), up from EP22.94 million in FY00. Sales rose 14 percent to reach EP152 million, while production reached EP151 million, enabling a surplus for export.
Founded in 1995, EFGC now controls the local glass for construction market. It produces float glass for windows and car windshields in its Cairo plant, whose output reaches 400 metric tons of glass per day. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
