Revolution leaves scars on Egypt’s corporate sector

Zawya have released new research that reveals the impact of the Black Swan event on the companies listed on the Egyptian stock exchange.

Zawya, an online provider of business intelligence in the Middle East, released its latest report on the impact of the Egyptian Revolution on the country’s publicly-listed companies.

During the first two months of 2011, Egypt experienced “a low probability, high impact event” – also referred to as a “Black Swan”. The event, known as “Egypt’s 2011 Revolution”, left deep imprints on the Egyptian economy.

Zawya Equity Capital Markets Research analysts measured the economic effects of the revolution on the country as a whole, and studied the effects on companies listed on the Egyptian Exchange. Adapting the same sector classification as the exchange, the Zawya team compared the effects of the revolution among sectors.

In terms of revenues, the sector that recorded the lowest median percentage change was travel and leisure, with a 54% decline, while the highest median was that of the chemicals sector at 20%.

For price, the real estate sector witnessed the sharpest median decline (29%), unlike the median in the Technology sector which saw an appreciation of 2%.

67% of the companies in the telecommunications sector were directly damaged during the revolution, with the Egyptian Company for Mobile Services reporting the highest Direct Damage of around EGP90 million.

Companies operating within the banking, financial services, and real estate sectors had part of their assets under investigation by Egyptian authorities. 40% of the companies belonging to the basic resources and chemicals sectors reported that at least one of their shareholders’ stakes was frozen, with Telecom Egypt reporting the highest number of Shareholders’ Frozen Stake (11 shareholders).

The team, led by Senior Market Analyst Hasan Shahin and Market Analyst Nicolas Zreik used the companies’ disclosures released on the Egyptian Exchange Website, as per the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority’s (EFSA) request, and reflected on Zawya’s platform as the primary source of information. The criteria used were: revenues, price, direct damage, assets under investigation, and shareholders’ frozen stake. Access the full report at www.zawya.com.