Scatec’s 1.1 GW Obelisk hybrid solar project now fully operational

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WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TODAY

BP targets 1 tcf in Mediterranean gas exploration as first phase of USD 1.5 bn investment plan

Good morning, friends. Ambition is meeting execution in today’s issue across three stories in renewables, corporate governance, and tourism.

Starting with Obelisk: Scatec has brought its 1.1 GW Obelisk solar-and-battery project in Nagaa Hammadi fully online. It is expected to generate 3 TWh of clean electricity annually under a 25-year USD-denominated offtake agreement with EETC.

MEANWHILE- The General Authority for Investment and Freezones and the Financial Regulatory Authority have voided PHG’s upcoming general assembly after an audit uncovered “serious financial and administrative violations.”

And new tourism targets are here: The government wants to more than double annual revenue to USD 38 bn by 2030, alongside its target of bringing in 30 mn visitors. Private investors are expected to carry virtually all of the EGP 118.5 bn investment bill for this FY.

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Every session on stage answers one question: “So, what do I actually do about it?”

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Three wells, one target

BP is chasing a 1 tcf prize in the Mediterranean: BP’s 2026 exploration campaign is targeting around 1 tcf of potential gas reserves, a source familiar with the matter tells EnterpriseAM. The drilling marks the first tranche of a USD 1.5 bn, five-year investment plan agreed with the government. If the wells yield commercial discoveries and enter production, they could lift domestic gas output and reduce reliance on imports, according to the source.

REMEMBER- We exclusively reported in June that BP was planning three Mediterranean wells with USD 218 mn in investment as part of a wider 2026 program targeting 14 wells and more than USD 1 bn across the basin. The broader campaign is being carried out through agreements with foreign players, after the government cleared its USD 6.1 bn arrears to international oil companies, with the aim of lifting domestic reserves and production.

Four sizes for the tax tab

The government’s tax-backed sukuk offering will come in four denominations — EGP 10k, EGP 100k, EGP 1 mn, and EGP 10 mn, according to official data seen by EnterpriseAM. The Finance Ministry will set an overall ceiling for the value of the instruments issued, although the document does not disclose its size.

The ministry plans to stagger the rollout through annual issuances to bring immediate liquidity into the Treasury without placing too much pressure on future tax receipts. Taxpayers would earn a tax-exempt return and could use the instruments to settle their tax liabilities after one year from subscription.

REMEMBER- The denomination ladder adds to the mechanism unveiled earlier this week to pull future tax receipts forward and tap taxpayers as a more stable and potentially cheaper funding pool. Each issuance will carry a fixed, tax-exempt return, while the governing rules are due within three weeks. Individuals, private companies, and public-sector businesses will be eligible to participate, and the instruments will not be transferable.

One rate for the rails

The Finance Ministry has standardized VAT on imported monorail and high-speed rail rolling stock at 5%, according to a government document seen by EnterpriseAM. The treatment applies to self-propelled metro rail cars and similar rolling stock used for mass passenger transport.

The clarification settles inconsistent treatment at Alexandria Customs. The authority had charged the baseline 14% VAT on 24 customs declarations covering imported monorail trains while applying the lower 5% to eight declarations covering six Desiro and two Velaro high-speed trains — both from Siemens. The National Authority for Tunnels (NAT) asked the Egyptian Tax Authority to settle the discrepancy, arguing that the imports fell under the same category of rolling stock.

REMEMBER- The first phase of the East Cairo-New Capital monorail is already running, while trial operations on the first high-speed electric rail line are expected to begin in September or October. Also, NAT is already receiving support for a stretched balance sheet, with the Finance Ministry funneling around EGP 19.3 bn into the authority this FY after debt tied partly to major infrastructure projects, including the monorail and high-speed rail network, piled up.

Data point

40.2 GW — that’s the new peak reached by the country’s national electricity grid yesterday, 12 August, exceeding Tuesday’s 40 GW record and reaching the government’s own projections, according to a statement from the Electricity Ministry. The new record is also 400 MW higher than the previous record-setting 39.8 GW peak seen during last summer’s heat.

Circle your calendar

Cityscape Egypt Summit 2026 lands in the New Capital on 7 September, bringing together government officials, developers, investors, and financial institutions to discuss the property market’s outlook and investment prospects. The summit will set the stage for the 15th Cityscape Egypt exhibition, running from 30 September to 3 October at the Egypt International Exhibition Center, with more than 80 developers showcasing over 1k projects.

PSA-

WEATHER- It’s below 40, but still hot in Cairo today, with a high of 37°C and a low of 26°C, according to our favorite weather app.

It’s breezier in Alexandria, with a high of 32°C and a low of 25°C.

And over the weekend, expect to see the same warm conditions in the capital (with a high of 37°C) and the cooler conditions for our friends on the Mediterranean (a high of 32°C).

The big story abroad

In the absence of a major update on the regional war, several stories from the business press took precedence on the front pages. Here are the most notable headlines:

US inflation in July was moderate: The consumer price index indicated that US inflation continued to ease last month, yet energy prices are still riding high since the US-Iran war erupted. The indicator rose 0.1% m-o-m and 3.4% annually, while core CPI (excluding food and energy) rose 2.5% over the year, potentially quelling the urgency of an imminent rate hike.

Bank of America has its eyes on the booming Indian economy, agreeing to acquire as much as 49.9% of Jio Financial Services’ lending unit for about USD 1.9 bn. The second-largest US lender will execute the investment through an allotment of shares and warrants in the Mumbai-based company, which is one of the region's fastest-growing financial firms.

Putting a price on the Truth (Social): US President Donald Trump has been hit with a lawsuit after his social media company Trump Media & Technology Group offered users a paid subscription that provides faster access to his Truth Social feed, through which he frequently signals policy changes. The service, called Truth API, charges a USD 100k monthly subscription and has been blasted by the plaintiffs as “profoundly corrupt” in a filing to a Manhattan federal court.

Scatec reaches full commercial operations on 1.1 GW Obelisk hybrid solar project

Norwegian renewable energy developer Scatec brought the rest of its 1.1-GW Obelisk solar-and-battery project in Nagaa Hammadi fully online. The USD 600 mn project’s second and final phase added 564 MW of solar capacity, Scatec said in a statement. The company calls Obelisk Africa’s largest hybrid solar-and-battery project.

Built in two phases: The first phase, which combines 561 MW of solar capacity with the total 100 MW / 200 MWh BESS, was inaugurated in January 2026 before officially reaching its commercial operations date in February 2026. The plant is connected to the national grid via 220 kV transmission lines, constructed under a contract signed in April 2025 between the state-owned Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) and a consortium of Kharafi National and Power Ring.

The full project is expected to generate more than 3 TWh of clean electricity annually, which EETC will purchase under a 25-year, USD-denominated power purchase agreement signed back in November 2024.

The ownership stack: Scatec de-risked the asset through construction before selling down its equity. Prior to dilution, Scatec covered 80% of capex with non-recourse debt from a consortium of development finance institutions. Post-construction, it offloaded 20% operating stakes each to NBE, Norfund, and EDF Power Solutions. This leaves Scatec with a 40% operating interest and a 75% holding stake, preserving its controlling operator rights.

The footprint: Obelisk, alongside the 380 MW Benban solar plant, takes Scatec’s operating renewable capacity in Egypt to some 1.5 GW, with a near-term pipeline including another 4.3 GW of renewable capacity and 4.1 GWh of battery storage. The company is earmarking USD 5 bn for future investments — a figure that does not include Obelisk.

A new Red Sea breeze

The Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) will buy the electricity generated by French developer Voltalia’s planned Zafarana wind farm at USD 0.024 per kWh under a 20-year power purchase agreement, according to an unnamed government official. The 869-MW project is expected to cost USD 800 mn and cover 120 sq km on the Red Sea coast, with commercial operations committed for December 2028, according to a cabinet statement.

The land terms are murky. A second government official said Voltalia secured the right to use the land in exchange for the equivalent of 2% of the project’s electricity output, while the cabinet’s statement said Voltalia would pay USD 53 mn, without explaining what the payment covers or how it relates to the arrangement.

No one has explained the capacity difference, either. Voltalia and Taqa Arabia’s original November 2024 MoU with the EETC proposed 1.1 GW of wind at Zafarana, as part of a wider 3.2 GW hybrid complex that also included 2.1 GW of solar, and Voltalia later said the wider project would cost more than USD 2 bn. The planned wind plant is now short of that target, and there was no explanation for what happened to the difference or whether this is the wind component in full, a phase of a larger build-out, or a separate project.

Gafi and FRA seize control of PHG general assembly after audit uncovers “serious violations”

A Gafi inspection into Premium Healthcare Group’s (PHG) board and auditors identified “serious financial and administrative violations,” according to a joint statement (pdf) from the General Authority for Investment and Freezones and the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA). The violations are serious enough that Gafi has voided the notice for PHG’s 25 August general assembly and says it will call the meeting itself.

The probe also flagged potential criminal conduct, some of which the statement said is already under investigation by prosecutors, without specifying what it involves.

REFRESHER- Some of PHG’s shareholders were already locked out of that vote before Gafi stepped in, according to a separate statement (pdf) dated 2 August. The FRA barred a shareholder group holding roughly 32% of PHG from voting or counting toward quorum. The group is led by Mahmoud Ahmed Lashin, whose assets have been frozen since October 2025 over alleged fund misappropriation, and the regulator said it lacks jurisdiction to rule on the settlement Lashin’s side has sought.

Who else sits at the cap table: Hala Samir Mostafa Lotfy is PHG’s largest disclosed shareholder with 18.37%, while an affiliated Lashin group holds another 5.01%, taking the bloc to 23.38%, as of early July (pdf). Haitham Ezz El Regal Khamis Ahmed holds 5.97% and Shaaban Nasr Ahmed Mahmoud Abu Ghalia 6.16%. The rest is split between freefloat and individual shareholders holding less than 5% each.

MARKET REAX- PHG’s stock closed down 1.12% yesterday at EGP 0.088.

About PHG: Founded in 2014, PHG (FKA City Lab) is a holding company that’s rolled four diagnostic-lab chains into one listed entity: Ezzlab, City Lab, Cairo Clinical Labs, and Hesab Labs, plus Khadamat, its logistics and healthcare-management arm, according to its website. Between them, the labs cover routine and molecular testing, hormonal panels, and oncology-related diagnostics across several governorates.

(** Tap or click the headline above to read this story with all of the links to our background as well as external sources.)

Egypt wants to more than double annual tourism revenue to USD 38 bn by 2030

The Madbouly government wants to more than double annual tourism revenue to USD 38 bn by FY 2029/30, relying on EGP 118.5 bn of tourism and antiquities investment in FY 2026/27, of which private investors are expected to provide EGP 117.8 bn, according to a government document seen by EnterpriseAM.

Private capital takes the wheel: Tourism investment has more than doubled in three years, with actual investment rising to EGP 72.8 bn in FY 2024/25, up from EGP 46.7 bn in FY 2023/24. The document expects the figure to reach EGP 105.5 bn in FY 2025/26 before growing 12.3% to the current fiscal year’s target of EGP 118.5 bn. The state-owned Holding Company for Tourism and Hotels (Hotac) is expected to invest just EGP 620 mn next FY, leaving virtually the entire investment program to the private sector.

A markdown: The new EGP 105.5 bn estimate for FY 2025/26 is 9.2% below the government’s last-year target of EGP 116.2 bn. That earlier plan expected private investors to provide EGP 115.6 bn of the total.

How the private sector is expected to expand capacity: The document anticipates hotel acquisitions and alliances alongside development around the Pyramids Plateau. The pipeline is already taking shape, with Marriott signing for 11 hotels and more than 1.8k rooms earlier this year, while Orascom Pyramids pledged to raise its Giza Plateau investment to EGP 2 bn.

A bigger target from a softer base: The plan still culminates in a target of 30 mn annual visitors by FY 2029/30. Its annual ladder started with a target of 16.4 mn visitors in FY 2024/25 and 18.2 mn in FY 2025/26 — both of which were met. The goal is 20.2 mn in the current fiscal year, then 23 mn in FY 2027/28, and 26.5 mn in FY 2028/29 before reaching the end-of-decade target.

More nights, more revenue: The government also wants visitors to stay longer. Average stays are expected to rise from 10.5 nights in FY 2024/25 to 11 nights by FY 2029/30.

A more ambitious USD ladder

Tourism revenue is expected to rise to USD 21.2 bn this fiscal year (up from USD 18.5 bn in FY 2025/26), USD 26 bn in the next, USD 31.7 bn in FY 2028/29, and USD 38 bn by the end of the decade, according to the document. The new USD 31.7 bn target for FY 2028/29 is about 32% higher than the government’s previous USD 24 bn target.

The latest performance snapshot: The document puts tourism revenue at USD 8 bn in calendar 1H 2026, with hotel occupancy exceeding 80% as the market added 6k rooms.

(** Tap or click the headline above to read this story with all of the links to our background as well as external sources.)

From Al Ahly to the wider sector: building Egypt’s sports management bench

The commercial growth of sports is creating demand for professionals who understand more than the game. As investment expands across clubs, sponsorships, media rights, and fan engagement, sports organizations increasingly need talent with strategic and commercial capabilities alongside sports experience.

That demand is what brought AUC Onsi Sawiris School of Business Executive Education and Al Ahly Sports Club together in 2021. The partnership was designed to build specialized sports management capabilities in Egypt and the wider region, combining AUC’s executive education expertise with Al Ahly’s experience managing one of Africa’s most established sports institutions.

The result was the Sports Management Program, a five-week program built around the business and operational demands of sport. The curriculum covers leadership, marketing, sponsorship, media, events management, sports psychology, and sports law, helping professionals build practical skills for the sector.

Since launching in September 2021, the program has graduated 288 participants across 12 intakes, with its 13th intake taking place in June 2026. Nearly a quarter of participants reside outside Egypt, mainly in the MENA region, reflecting regional demand for specialized sports management training. The mix includes professionals already working in sports and others exploring a move into the industry.

With its 13th intake held in June 2026, the partnership continues to help turn sports management into a structured career track. The goal is to build a deeper pipeline of professionals who can manage clubs, events, sponsorships, media relationships, and fan engagement with the same discipline expected in other fast-growing industries.

TMG posts 21% jump in net income in 2Q

Earnings season continues, with TMG, Orascom Development Egypt, E-finance, El Sewedy Electric, Fawry, EgyptAlum, and Oriental Weavers among the latest companies to report their results.

TMG

Talaat Moustafa Group (TMG) reported a 21% y-o-y increase in net income to EGP 4.5 bn in 2Q 2026, according to its latest earnings release (pdf). Revenues surged 14% y-o-y over the same period to EGP 17.1 bn on the back of continued construction progress and the delivery of some 1.5k units across the Group’s developments, namely Madinaty and Celia.

In 1H, the real estate giant’s bottom line climbed 23% y-o-y to reach EGP 9.9 bn. The top line for the period rose 24% y-o-y to EGP 30.2 bn, with real estate contributing EGP 17 bn in revenues. Robust demand across SouthMed, The Spine, and the broader development portfolio drove the Group's total contracted sales to EGP 219.1 bn in 1H.

Orascom Development

Orascom Development Egypt’s net income rose 26.1% y-o-y to EGP 1.33 bn in 2Q 2026, while its revenue jumped 64.3% to EGP 8.36 bn, according to the company’s latest earnings release (pdf). Real estate sales increased 7.1% y-o-y to EGP 8.1 bn during the quarter. Real estate revenue more than doubled to EGP 5.47 bn in 2Q, up from EGP 2.63 bn a year earlier.

The first half saw more moderate bottom-line growth: Net income increased 4.5% y-o-y to EGP 3.17 bn in 1H 2026, while revenue rose 28.5% to EGP 14.82 bn and real estate sales climbed 30% to EGP 15.1 bn. The company said the headline figures were weighed down by a lower contribution from land sales, which fell to EGP 350 mn from EGP 1.55 bn a year earlier. Excluding land sales, net income would have risen 57.5% y-o-y to EGP 2.93 bn, while revenue would have climbed 45% to EGP 14.47 bn.

E-finance

E-finance’s adjusted net income attributable to shareholders jumped 78.3% y-o-y to EGP 1.14 bn in 2Q 2026, while its revenue rose 19.7% to EGP 1.93 bn, according to the company’s latest earnings release (pdf). Adjusted net income adds back noncash employee stock ownership plan expenses, the company noted. Cloud revenue remained the fastest-growing major business line, rising 27.2% y-o-y to EGP 693.4 mn during the quarter.

In 1H 2026, adjusted net income attributable to shareholders rose 65.6% y-o-y to EGP 2.1 bn, while revenue increased 29.3% to EGP 4.18 bn. Cloud services revenue grew 31.9% y-o-y to EGP 1.52 bn, while build and operate revenues climbed 33.3% to EGP 717.7 mn, and transaction revenue increased 22.6% to EGP 1.6 bn.

El Sewedy Electric

El Sewedy Electric saw its net income rise 11.6% y-o-y to EGP 5.1 bn in 2Q 2026, while its revenues rose 36.7% to EGP 88 bn, according to the company’s latest earnings release (pdf). Totaling 58% of total revenues, wires, cables, and accessories remained the primary revenue driver, contributing EGP 51.1 bn on the back of 35.1% y-o-y growth.

In 1H 2026, the firm’s bottom line surged 14.1% y-o-y to EGP 9.9 bn, while revenue increased around 32% to EGP 163 bn.

Bonyan

Real estate investment company Bonyan saw a 26% y-o-y drop in net income in 2Q 2026 to EGP 449 mn, according to its latest earnings release (pdf). Management attributed this to slower fair value gains as the appreciation of assets was stymied by inflation. Sales for the period rose 39% y-o-y to EGP 29 mn, boosted by the sale of a unit in Walk of Cairo. Revenues from rent totaled EGP 206 mn in the quarter, rising 15% y-o-y.

In 1H, the company recorded a net income of EGP 1 bn in 1H 2026, barely changing y-o-y. The company saw its sales revenues rise 490% y-o-y to around EGP 203 mn for the same period, coinciding with a 17% y-o-y increase in rental revenues to EGP 402 mn amid lease renewals and contractual escalations.

Fawry

EGX-listed fintech giant Fawry saw its net income climb 33.6% y-o-y to EGP 871 mn in 2Q 2026, according to an earnings release (pdf). Its top line surged 42.7% y-o-y to EGP 2.8 bn, with banking services being the primary growth engine, contributing EGP 1.1 bn in gains, followed by financial services.

In 1H, Fawry’s bottom line rose around 29% y-o-y to EGP 1.6 bn. Its top line rose 39% y-o-y to EGP 5.2 bn, with throughput value rising 52.1% y-o-y to EGP 587 bn.

EgyptAlum

State-owned Aluminum Company of Egypt (EgyptAlum) saw its bottom line climb 52% y-o-y to EGP 15.49 bn in FY 2025/26, up from EGP 10.19 bn a year earlier, it said in an EGX disclosure (pdf). Revenue rose 23% y-o-y to EGP 53.14 bn. Earnings per share followed the bottom line higher, climbing to EGP 37.55 from EGP 24.69.

Oriental Weavers

Oriental Weavers reported record quarterly earnings in 2Q 2026, with net income nearly doubling y-o-y to EGP 1.1 bn, despite what the company described as strong headwinds, according to results (pdf) emailed to EnterpriseAM. Revenue rose 13% y-o-y to EGP 7 bn. The strong quarter pushed 1H earnings sharply higher, with net income climbing 83% y-o-y to EGP 1.9 bn and revenue increasing 11% to EGP 13.9 bn.

(** Tap or click the headline above to read this story with all of the links to our background as well as external sources.)

SCZone gets new chief

A presidential decree has appointed Mustafa Sheikhoune chairman of the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone), as Walid Gamal El Din’s four-year term ends, according to a statement.

At the SCA: Osama Rabie’s position as chairman of the Suez Canal Authority was extended for another year under the same decree, with Ahmed Khaled now serving as the board’s new vice chairman.

Orascom Construction, Sawiris Foundation back next generation of scholars

Our friends at Orascom Construction are sending another cohort of Egyptian students to top universities in the US. The company awarded full scholarships to three students through the Onsi Sawiris Scholarship Program, with Yomna Shehata heading to the University of Pennsylvania to study engineering, while Hanna Khashaba will study mechanical engineering at the University of Chicago and Ahmed Awad will pursue economics at the same university. The scholarships cover tuition, living costs, travel, and health ins.

This marks the 26th consecutive year of the program, which Orascom Construction runs in partnership with the Sawiris Foundation for Social Development. Since its launch in 2000, the program has awarded 105 scholarships to Egyptian students, with previous recipients attending universities including Harvard, Stanford, MIT, the University of Chicago, and the University of Pennsylvania. Scholarship recipients are required to return to Egypt after completing their degrees.

EMC lands USD 18.6 mn Eni contract to supply Iraq’s Zubair oilfields

Egyptian Maintenance Company (EMC) — commercially known as San Masr — landed a USD 18.6 mn Iraq contract, securing Italy’s Eni tender to supply electrical equipment for Iraq’s Zubair oilfields over three years, according to a company statement. EMC will provide medium- and low-voltage equipment, distribution panels, motor-control centers, and other electrical components used across the Basra project.

IN CONTEXT- The award adds to a growing pipeline of overseas work for Egyptian engineering and petroleum-services companies. Egyptian corporates’ net outward FDI rose 30.3% y-o-y to USD 508 mn in 2024. More recently, Petrojet and Enppi secured a six-year route to compete for contracts across Petroleum Development Oman’s USD 6 bn+ project pipeline.

Peak season, peak prices

French shipping group CMA CGM is adding up to USD 8k in surcharges to container freight moving from the Red Sea and South Asia to the US, according to company advisories issued on 5 August (pdf) and 11 August (pdf). The peak-season surcharge will start at USD 6k per container on 1 September before rising to USD 8k on 15 September. It covers cargo moving from Red Sea ports, the Middle East Gulf, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka to the US East and Gulf coasts and inland destinations reached through them.

Egypt is not one shipping bucket: Cargo loaded at Ain Sokhna — or originating inland and routed through it — appears to fall within the Red Sea scope, although the advisories do not provide a port-by-port list. CMA CGM has previously included Sokhna within the scope of its Red Sea charges and is a partner in the 1.7 mn-TEU Red Sea Container Terminal at the port.

More on our radar:

EgyptAir will run one weekly flight from Jeddah and Madinah to Alamein from 13 August to 12 September. (Statement)
Russia’s aviation regulator approved direct flights from Russia to Alamein and Borg El Arab, moving beyond the preliminary accreditation granted to both airports last month. (Statement)

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Coordinated US-Japan JPY intervention loses its grip as carry trade reasserts itself

The JPY has clawed back to 159 against the USD, shedding roughly half the ground it gained since Tokyo and Washington staged the first coordinated JPY-buying operation in 1998, CNBC reports. The intervention — which took place late in July — had briefly pushed the JPY’s rate to 155 per USD from over 163.

The math is simple, really: US 10-year Treasuries yield roughly 4.7% against 2.8% for Japanese equivalents — a gap wide enough to keep the carry trade alive no matter how many times the two governments buy JPY together. Monex’s Jesper Koll told CNBC that intervention can scare speculators but can’t override where the money actually wants to go.

Firepower backs up the point: The US Treasury’s main tool, the Exchange Stabilization Fund, holds under USD 220 bn in total assets — a stark contrast to the estimated USD 53 bn Japan spent in a single day (30 July) to defend its currency. Coordination buys optics, not leverage, Manulife’s Nathan Thooft told Bloomberg.

Oil prices and Japan’s status as a heavy energy importer are compounding the pressure, per CNBC, while Washington’s motive for stepping in has less to do with rescuing the JPY than protecting its own bond market. Treasury veteran Mark Sobel told Bloomberg that Japanese bond selloffs have occasionally spilled into US Treasuries and called FX intervention a “Band-Aid” for a problem that only fiscal discipline can address.

Even if the intervention held, the path was already sketched out: UBS strategists told CNBC they expected USD/JPY to stay range-bound around 160 into year-end even in a best-case scenario, while Lombard Odier’s John Wood argued the Bank of Japan (BOJ) still needed at least two more rate hikes to draw a durable line under the currency. In other words, a successful intervention was never going to mean a stronger JPY on its own — it was buying the BOJ room to hike without a market panic in the meantime, which is now shrinking.

OUR TAKE- Intervention may have been a stalling tactic dressed up as policy. The real lever is a BOJ rate hike, penciled in for September, and every week the BOJ hesitates is a week the carry trade gets to reassert itself. Markets have already priced that in, which is exactly why JPY 159 didn’t need a headline to get here.

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MARKETS THIS MORNING-

Asian stocks advanced in early trading, as anticipated US inflation figures tempered speculation that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates again in the near future. South Korea’s Kospi gained 3.9%, while Japan’s Nikkei followed at 1.3%. The MSCI Asia-Pacific index, excluding Japan, gained 0.97%.

EGX30	55,040	+0.4% (YTD: +31.6%)
USD (CBE)	Buy 50.16	Sell 50.30
USD (CIB)	Buy 50.12	Sell 50.22
Interest rates (CBE)	19.00% deposit	20.00% lending
Tadawul	10,844	+0.1% (YTD: +3.4%)
ADX	10,013	+0.1% (YTD: +0.2%)
DFM	5,920	+0.7% (YTD: -2.1%)
S&P 500	7,749	+0.3% (YTD: +13.2%)
FTSE 100	10,833	-0.1% (YTD: +9.1%)
Euro Stoxx 50	6,534	-0.3% (YTD: +12.7%)
Brent crude	USD 88.16	+0.9%
Natural gas (Nymex)	USD 2.79	-0.5%
Gold	USD 4,488	+0.5%
BTC	USD 63,561	-0.3% (YTD: -27.5%)
S&P Egypt Sovereign Bond Index	1,095	+0.0% (YTD: +10.3%)
S&P MENA Bond & Sukuk	150.82	+0.0% (YTD: -0.7%)
VIX (Volatility Index)	14.55	-4.8% (YTD: -2.7%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 rose 0.4% at yesterday’s close on turnover of EGP 16.4 bn (60.0% above the 90-day average). Local investors were the sole net buyers. The index is up 31.6% YTD.

In the green: Misr Cement (+6.5%), Valmore Holding (+4.7%), and Orascom Investment Holding (+4.1%).

In the red: Ibnsina Pharma (-2.5%), Heliopolis Housing (-2.3%), and Rameda (-2.3%).

My Morning Routine: Hassan Abdelgelil, head of FP&A, investments, and investor relations at Fawry

Hassan Abdelgelil, Director of FP&A, Investments, and IR at Fawry: Each week, My Morning Routine looks at how a successful member of the community starts their day — and then throws in a couple of random business questions just for fun. Speaking to us this week is Hassan Abdelgelil (LinkedIn), Director of FP&A, Investments, and IR at Fawry.

Edited excerpts from our conversation:

My path into finance started almost by accident, sparked by a pull toward numbers, investments, and financial decision-making that I discovered at university and never let go of. After graduating, I completed military service, followed by a commercial analyst role at Etisalat that wasn’t really finance either. That's when I began studying for my CFA, to actually break into the field. Before that, I'd also worked an accounting job at ExxonMobil. My first true break came after more than three years, when I joined CI Capital as an equity research analyst covering fintech and telecom names across Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Oman.

My role today spans financial planning and analysis (FP&A), investments, and investor relations (IR). The three feed into each other far more than people expect. As the FP&A person, I translate the company’s strategic plans into numbers and track their impact on earnings and losses, which makes me far more comfortable communicating those same plans to investors. On the investment side, it ties back to strategy too: when we identify a sector we want to grow in, we look for companies that complement what we’re already building, and that’s where M&A conversations start.

Moving from analyzing a company to running its numbers from the inside turned out to be a bigger shift than I expected. As a research analyst, you have real insight into a company’s strategy and industry, but you’re working with a lag, assessing a quarter that may have ended weeks earlier. Inside the company, you’re working off daily changes and have to be far more active, since decisions need to be made within the quarter to actually be implemented. What you lose in immediacy, though, you gain in a clearer view of the macro environment, something that’s harder to track once you’re inside the day-to-day.

Fawry is in the business of financial services for everyone, from micro and small enterprises (SMEs) to individual consumers and large companies alike. We started with payments and are still growing that business, but we’ve expanded into financial services more broadly: lending, ins., payroll solutions, and more. We believe there’s a gap in the offerings for the micro and SME segment especially. The goal is to embed these services into the daily lives of the people and businesses we serve through a digital-first approach that keeps our cost to serve low enough to scale.

By 8am, I’m up and scanning my inbox for anything urgent before the day takes over. I fit in a short workout routine, although most of my actual training happens later. After that, I get ready, help with the kids, get my son to nursery and my daughter to school. My commute from New Cairo to Smart Village takes about an hour, and I use it differently depending on the day: sometimes work calls, sometimes an audiobook, sometimes just catching up with family.

Once I reach the office, the first thing I do is read EnterpriseAM to catch up on what’s moving the market. Since the Egyptian Exchange opens around when I get in, I check in on market movement several times throughout the day, at least four or five times.

I structure my day so both work and family get real attention. Mornings are usually FP&A-focused with my team, and I’ve started fitting my workouts into midday, using that as a natural break between team-heavy work and the more independent projects I tackle afterward.

My weekends are entirely for my family. My daughter plays three different sports, so weekends are a fairly packed schedule that my wife manages during the week, and I help cover when I’m off. Outside of work, I’m a former swimmer, and I still swim weekly, run two to three times a week, and play football roughly every other week.

Lately, I’ve been drawn to sharpening specific skills, which is why I’ve been leaning toward strategy books. I’ve realized I don’t read enough, so I’ve been trying to fix that, mostly through audiobooks for now, though I think actual reading would serve me better. The last book I got through was The 48 Laws of Power.

“If you want to grow, you need to step outside your job description and do the things nobody expects” is the best piece of advice I’ve ever gotten, and it came from my first manager, Omneya Hamza, back at Etisalat. She told me this in the middle of a conversation about a new project nobody wanted to touch, not because anyone was asking me to take it on, but because that’s how you actually scale in your career.

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CALENDAR

AUGUST

19 August (Wednesday): Connected Banking Summit, Fairmont Nile City Hotel Cairo.

20 August (Thursday): Monetary Policy Committee’s fifth meeting of 2026.

26 August (Wednesday): Prophet Muhammad’s birthday.

SEPTEMBER

8-10 September (Tuesday-Thursday) El Alamein International Airshow, El Alamein International Airport.

10-12 September (Thursday-Saturday): Egyptian Entrepreneurship Sector Diagnostics Report Summit, El Gouna.

15 September (Tuesday): IMF to hold its eighth review of Egypt’s USD 8 bn EFF arrangement.

24 September (Thursday): Monetary Policy Committee’s sixth meeting of 2026.

27-29 September (Sunday-Tuesday): Global Conference on Population, Health, and Human Development.

28-29 September (Monday-Tuesday): Egypt Mining Forum, St. Regis Hotel New Capital.

30 September - October 3 (Wednesday-Saturday): Cityscape, Egypt International Exhibition Center, Cairo.

OCTOBER

5 October (Monday): The EnterpriseAM Egypt Forum.

6 October (Tuesday): Armed Forces Day.

10-11 October (Saturday-Sunday): Egypt Women’s Health Summit (EWHS), Cairo Marriott Hotel.

26-28 October (Monday-Wednesday): IEX Egypt, Egypt International Exhibition Center, Cairo.

29 October (Thursday): Monetary Policy Committee’s seventh meeting of 2026.

NOVEMBER

6-8 November (Friday-Sunday) : Global Entrepreneurship Festival, JW Marriott Hotel, New Cairo.

8-11 November (Sunday-Wednesday): Cairo ICT Forum.

DECEMBER

7-10 December (Monday-Thursday): Food Africa, Egypt International Exhibition Center, Cairo.

17 December (Thursday): Monetary Policy Committee’s eighth meeting of 2026.

EVENTS WITH NO SET DATE

Mid-August: IMF Board expected to decide on the seventh review of the loan program.

2H 2026: Operations at Deli Glass Co’s new USD 70 mn glassware factory kick off.

2026: The Egyptian-American Economic Forum.

4Q 2026: Banque du Caire IPO.

2027

20 January-7 February: Egypt to host the African Games.

1-3 February (Monday-Wednesday): Agri Expo, Cairo International Convention Center.

April 2027: Tenth of Ramadan dry port and logistics hub to begin operations.

EVENTS WITH NO SET DATE

2027: Egypt to host EBRD’s annual meetings.

2027: Egypt-EU Summit 2027.

End of 2027: Trial operations at the Dabaa nuclear power plant expected to take place.

September 2028: First unit of the Dabaa nuclear power plant begins operations.

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