Palm Hills slips into H1 net loss

CAIRO: Egyptian real estate firm Palm Hills Developments, the country's second-biggest developer slipped to a 2011 first-half net loss of 81.4 million Egyptian pounds ($13.6 million), the stock exchange said on Sunday.

The firm, hard hit by an uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak and widening graft probes that have frozen sales and increased cancellations, reported a 191.4 million net profit in the first half of 2010, the note said, without providing further details.

Palm Hills had reported a first-quarter net loss of 36.2 million Egyptian pounds, compared with a year-earlier net profit of 107 million pounds.

Palm Hills is among several real estate firms facing legal challenges contesting its land bank.

Its Chairman Yasseen Mansour was among several businessmen who were facing corruption charges. Mansour and the former housing minister Ahmed el-Maghrabi were cleared of corruption charges in a state land sale last month.

But although Mansour was cleared of criminal charges, the company is awaiting a verdict by another court on whether the contract for one of its land plots will be scrapped. That court is due to hear the case on Oct. 4.

The firm is facing court cases contesting the legality of two of its land plots and has said it would return at least two other plots of land to help manage cash flows.

Copyright Reuters, 2011