Egypt's Sewedy Cables, the largest Arab cable maker by market value, said yesterday (April 6) it expected 2009 net profit to rise 10 per cent as it derives more revenue from non-cable operations.

“We are expecting the profit for this year to be higher than last year by about 10 percent,' chief executive Ahmed El Sewedy told a conference call.

Profit growth would be driven by revenue from turnkey projects and from porcelain and transformer sales, Sewedy said.

The company said it had a backlog of 1.7 billion Egyptian pounds ($300 million) of turnkey projects.

In a turnkey project, the developer completes construction of the project before turning it over to the buyer.

'The main assumption that we are taking into account is a contraction in the cable business and a growth in the turnkey business,' Sewedy chief financial officer Wael Khalil told the call.

Net profit in the first quarter of 2009 should exceed the fourth quarter of 2008, when profit dropped four-fold to 51 million pounds, Sewedy said.

Growth would be driven by infrastructure spending in Africa and the Gulf Arab region, Sewedy said.

'In Africa and the Gulf there are a lot of utilities that need to be improved,' Sewedy said.

Investment bank EFG-Hermes said in January that Sewedy's earnings in the first quarter of 2009 would be weak. It said growth would pick up in the long term, driven by Sewedy's expansion into non-cable, high-growth activities. – Reuters