UPDATE - Egypt's Palm Hills Q3 profits rise to 129.7 mln Egyptian pounds

Sunday 09-11-2014 12:22 PM
UPDATE - Egypt's Palm Hills Q3 profits rise to 129.7 mln Egyptian pounds
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CAIRO, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Palm HillsEgypt's second-largest listed real estate developer, on Sunday reported a 152-percent jump in third- quarter net profits, propelled by a spike in sales.

The company said third-quarter net profits reached 129.70 million Egyptian pounds ($18 million), up from 51.47 million pounds for the same period last year.

Palm Hills also reported a 368 percent jump in third-quarter revenues on the year to 487 million pounds after it delivered more properties to market.

Egypt's once-booming construction sector was hit hard by the 2011 revolt that ended Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule but ushered in a period of economic and political volatility.

Three years on, the economy is showing the first signs of recovery, bringing an uptick in demand for property in the Arab world's most populous country.

Palm Hills, which is involved in about 18 development projects including apartments and luxury villas, struggled in 2012 after it faced investigations into previous state land sales and client cancellations after the revolt. In 2013, it turned a corner and recorded a profit of 239 million pounds.

In September, the company said it had agreed to borrow 2.4 billion pounds from nine banks, mostly to finance existing projects. (1 US dollar = 7.1500 Egyptian pound) (Reporting by Ehab Farouk; editing by Lin Noueihed and Keiron Henderson)

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