Brokerage firm Financial Funds Advisors (FFA) announced it will offer its trading services through Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) starting in December.
FFA’s new service would allow its clients to view their portfolio status, conduct on-line trading and view on-line quotes in real time on both local and international markets. FFA will not charge extra fees to use the WAP service, but clients need to own a WAP-enabled mobile phone and get a WAP line from either LibanCell or Cellis, and then get a membership from a mobile Internet portal.
There are currently three such portals in Lebanon, Mobiliban, Plug and Mobilenow. WAP is a system for wireless data communication using devices such as mobile phones and palm top computers to communicate through the Internet.
FFA’s income rose 326 percent to $1.26 million in 1999.
A General Assembly meeting of the shareholders of Compagnie du Casino du Liban (CCL) held on November 23, failed to solve the continuing dispute between its chairman Elie Ghorayeb and the other 11 board members. The meeting’s objective was to relieve CCL’s current board of directors and its chairman from their responsibilities and elect a new board.
The casino’s chairman has been at odds with its 11 board members on a number of issues, particularly on how to address the outstanding taxes the government is claiming from slot machines revenues and the construction of a hotel near the Casino.
The board has been trying to remove the chairman from his post and has accused him of monopolizing decision-making at the firm. Intra Investment Company, which controls 51 percent of CCL, decided to hold another general assembly on January 8, 2001.
In parallel, Mr. Ghorayeb indicated that the dispute between the casino and the government over slot-machine revenues might be sorted out soon. The Finance Ministry claims that the casino has not paid the government its 30 percent share of slot revenues since 1996, which were estimated at nearly $23 million. He added that international auditing firm Deloitte & Touche was auditing the books of the casino to determine the actual revenues and profits.
The Beirut Stock Exchange
The Beirut Stock Exchange released figures on trading activity on the bourse during the first 10 months of 2000. Total volume reached 10.8 million shares, a 30 percent decline from the same period last year, while aggregate turnover amounted to $56.81 million, down 32 percent from a turnover of $84 million in the first 10 months of 1999. Market capitalization increased 6.25 percent year-on-year to $1.735 billion.
The average daily traded volume for the period was 53,000 shares for an average daily value of $281,000. The figures reflect declines of 30.3 percent and 31.8 percent, respectively, from similar averages in the same period of 1999. — ( Lebanon Invest )
