🔔 Good morning, and welcome to Telda Lens — your daily pulse on Egypt’s markets.

Today: CIB delivered a record year as Q4 profits surge 57%, while Beltone finalized its EUR 197.6 million acquisition of Baobab to expand across Africa, and Gourmet Egypt shares rallied 40% on their market debut.

🔔 EGX30 ended +0.16% by market close at 50,376 points, the EGX70 rose 0.41% to 12,935 points, and the EGX100 increased 0.31%  to reach 17,928 points

💸 The number of transactions reached 173,934 spread across 2,774,862,477 stocks leading to a turnover of EGP 8.4 billion.

🏷️ International investors were the only net sellers.

📈 Top gainers across the broader market Gourmet Egypt. (+40%), International Company For Fertilizers & Chemicals (+10.99%), United Housing & Development (+9.06%)

📉 Top losers: Egypt for Poultry (--9.83%), Cairo Poultry (-4.58%), Credit Agricole Egypt (-3.73%.)

⬆️ Top gainers for EGX30 included Heliopolis Housing (+3.9%), Telecom Egypt (+2.2%), and EFG Holding (+2.0%).

⬇️ Top losers included: Edita (-2.3%), Ibnsina Pharma (-2.0%), and Qalaa Holdings (-1.5%).

Other Important Stats: 

🧈 24K Gold reached EGP 7,695 per gram, down 1.01 day-on-day but up 11.47% month-on-month.

💲 The USD reached EGP 46.84 at the National Bank of Egypt.

💸 CIB (COMI) reported a 57% year-on-year jump in fourth-quarter 2025 net income to EGP 20.1 billion, helping drive a record full-year profit, according to its latest earnings release. (Read more in our Deeper Look Section below.)

✅ Beltone Holding (BTFH) has completed the full acquisition of Baobab Group for EUR 197.6 million, it said in a statement. The move gives Beltone immediate access to several African markets including Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, and others, as part of its regional expansion strategy. (Read more in our Deeper Look Section below.)

In IPO news:

🔔 Gourmet Egypt (GOUR) hit the maximum ceiling limit on its first day of trading yesterday, rising 40% and closing at EGP 9.66, compared to an opening price of EGP 6.9. The company — in which B Investments (BINV) holds a 40% stake — is targeting EGP 3 billion in sales this year, up from EGP 2.1 billion in 2025, Managing Director Shady Abu Saad said. He outlined plans to open 3-4 new branches annually in Egypt and expand into the Gulf and Middle East starting 2027, alongside a dividend policy exceeding 50% of net profits.

🔔 El Ezaby Pharmacies – which is 49% owned by B Investments — is considering an IPO on the EGX in 2027, though plans remain preliminary, B Investments chairman Hazem Barakat told Asharq. Separately, Barakat said B Investments plans to invest around EGP 3 billion over the current and coming years, including potential acquisitions worth about EGP 500 million per deal across healthcare, education, and food and beverages.

📝 Egypt’s urban inflation eased to 11.9% in January 2026, down from 12.3%  in December. Analysts told Al Arabiya that the disinflation trend is expected to continue through 2026, supporting a likely central bank rate cut of around 100 basis points at its next meeting, with total reductions of 500-600  basis points possible over the year.

💵 Egypt is seeking a EUR 227 million concessional loan from Spain to fund imported components for maintaining 39 trains on Cairo’s Metro Line 2, while local costs and ten years of maintenance will be covered by the government, three sources told Asharq. The project is part of Egypt’s wider metro and rail modernization plans, including Line 1 and 2 upgrades, new monorail lines, and a high-speed rail to Marsa Matrouh.

Commercial International Bank “CIB”(COMI) reported a 57% year-on-year surge in net income for the fourth quarter of 2025, reaching EGP 20.1 billion. Management attributed the strong close to the year to relative stability in local macroeconomic conditions and genuine growth in core business activities.

The bank’s bottom-line expansion during the quarter was supported by consolidated revenues of EGP 33.7 billion, marking a 25% increase compared to the fourth quarter of 2024.

Record full-year performance

For the full year of 2025, CIB delivered record net income of EGP 82.2 billion, a 49% increase year-on-year. Management noted that even upon normalizing for the positive impact of a released provision regarding the recalibration of the bank's Expected Credit Loss (ECL) model, the full-year bottom line would still record a robust EGP 70.6 billion, representing 28% growth.

Full-year consolidated revenues reached EGP 117 billion, up 19% from 2024.

The bank’s results were underpinned by significant balance sheet expansion

Lending Growth: The gross loan portfolio grew by 44% to record EGP 576 billion, driven largely by accelerated activity in corporate loans, which rose by 45%.

Deposit Base: Customer deposits increased by 14% year-on-year, reaching EGP 1.11 trillion, with the share of Current and Saving Accounts (CASA) rising to 61% of total deposits.

Strong stock performance lately

The company’s share value has risen almost 33% since the start of the year, helping the EGX30 index rise to record level since CIB holds almost 32% of the main index’s weight. Overall, the company’s shares have risen 92.67% in the past year.

Going forward

CIB is planning to invest approximately USD 300 million over the next three years to launch a standalone digital bank, targeting 10 million customers including SMEs and Egyptian expats. The bank has applied for a license from the Central Bank of Egypt and aims to establish a holding company in Abu Dhabi to own the new entity, with operations expected to start by late 2025 or early 2026. 

Beltone Holding is expanding its footprint across Africa after completing the full acquisition of Baobab Group in a deal valued at EUR 197.6 million, according to a statement from the company.

Impact

The acquisition gives Beltone immediate access to several African markets, including Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Madagascar, Burkina Faso, Mali, Congo, and Nigeria, marking a major step in the group’s regional growth strategy.

Baobab focuses on providing financing to micro and small businesses, with a strong emphasis on digital platforms that make borrowing faster and more accessible. The group serves close to 1.6 million customers and has built a sizable lending operation across its markets.

By the third quarter of 2025, Baobab managed a loan portfolio worth 848.8 million euros and had issued nearly four million loans to small businesses, highlighting its deep reach in underserved segments.

This comes after a strong performance from the company

Beltone Holding reported a net income after tax and minority interest of EGP 1.5 billion in 9M 2025, up 32% compared to the same period last year, on the back of a 97% increase in operating revenues to EGP 9.6 billion, supported by strong performances from its Non‑Banking Financial Institutions, Investment Banking, and Asset Management segments.

Stay curious, stay invested — we’ll see you tomorrow.

Your daily market lens, signing off.