Orascom Development plans to settle some of its debts in 2018

Cairo – 18 November 2017: Should Orascom Development Egypt (ODE) be able to repay between LE 700 million and LE 1 billion of its debt in 2018, its financial situation will be much better, the company’s CEO Khaled Bichara Said on Saturday, Reuters reported.

The company is owned by Egyptian businessman Samih Sawiris.

Bichara’s comments came after ODE announced that it achieved profits in the third quarter of 2017. It achieved LE 76 million ($ 4.3 million) in net profits, compared to LE 44.3 million in losses a year earlier.

Bichara said, in a press conference in Cairo, that the company’s loans and credit facilities amounted to LE 4 billion at end of September.

The company’s net profit during the first nine months of 2017 reached LE 193.7 million, compared to LE 150.3 million last year.

Bichara attributed the company’s profits to improved tourism occupancy rates in addition to a number of economic and sport events that took place in the Red Sea resort of el-Gouna over the last period.

Occupancy rates in the company’s hotels increased to 77 percent in the first nine months of 2017, from 56 percent in the corresponding period last year.

Egypt’s tourism revenues jumped 211.8 percent to $5.3 billion in the first 9 months of 2017, with the number of tourists increasing by 55.3 percent.

Bichara added his company will complete the renovation of its 17 hotels in el-Gouna, saying that the company will increase the number of rooms in the Red Sea resort from the current 2,400.

Orascom Development Egypt, formerly Orascom Hotels and Development SAE, is an Egypt-based company engaged in the hotel and tourism development sector. The Company focuses on developing an area for tourism purpose