Al-Watany Bank of Egypt (AWB) recently announced the increase of its capital by 2.5 million shares rights issue at 15.35 Egyptian pounds, the bank's paid-in capital was raised from EP157.5 million to EP175 million and an additional of EP 20.875 million has been recorded on the bank's reserves.
Capital increase proceeds will be used to finance AWB's network expansion plan to reach 30 branches by 2005. Branch network expansion will focus on retail banking services. The number of AWB shares currently outstanding is 25 million shares. The subscription period for the 3.2 million shares rights issue was set between June 10 and July 9, 2001, at EP 15.35 per share in addition to EP0.25 issuance fee.
Shareholders did not fully cover the capital increase in the allotted period, therefore an extension to the subscription period was announced until November 30, during which no ceiling was enforced on the number of shares that each shareholder can subscribe to. Coverage ratio after subscription period closure was 78.13 percent.
AWB reported third quarter net profit of EP26.6 million ($5.78 million), compared to EP22.8 million the previous year. Net profit rose 8.9 percent from the second quarter of 2001. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
