Orascom - H1 2011 Results Announcement

CAIRO, EGYPT--(Marketwire - Sep 6, 2011) -

Results as at 30 June 2011
Cairo, Egypt / September 6, 2011, 8:30 AM


OCI Secures US$ 1 billion of New Construction Contract Awards and
Generates Double Digit Growth in EBITDA and Net Income during Q2 2011

Summary of Consolidated Results for Q2 2011(1):

* Consolidated revenues increased 9.8% to US$ 1,473.6 million (EGP
  8,760.1 million) versus US$ 1,341.8million (EGP 7,463.5 million) in
  Q2 2010

* EBITDA increased 33.9% to US$ 360.6 million (EGP 2,145.1 million)
  versus US$ 269.3 million (EGP 1,499.2 million) in Q2 2010

* Consolidated EBITDA margin of 24.5% and Construction Group EBITDA
  margin of 13.0% during Q2 2011

* Net income increased 14.7% to US$ 165.2 million (EGP 985.4
  million) versus US$ 144.0 million (EGP 801.1 million)in Q2 2010

* Interim cash dividend of US$ 1.10 per share to be paid during the
  fourth quarter bringing total cash dividends paid during calendar year
  2011 to US$ 2.1 per share

Summary of Consolidated Results for H1 2011 Ended 30 June 2011:

* Consolidated revenues grew 17.5% to US$ 2,735.1 million (EGP
  16,143.4 million) versus US$ 2,327.2 million (EGP 12,863.6 million) in
  H1 2010

* EBITDA increased by 38.2% to US$ 695.3 million (EGP 4,104.0
  million) versus US$ 503.0 million (EGP 2,780.1 million) in H1 2010

* Consolidated EBITDA margin of 25.4% and Construction Group margin
  of 14.6% during H1 2011

* Net income increased by 42.4% to US$ 371.3 million (EGP 2,191.7
  million) versus US$ 260.7 million (EGP 1,440.3 million) in H1 2010

Consolidated Construction Group Backlog

* Consolidated backlog as at 30 June 2011 stood at US$ 5.23 billion
  reflecting an increase of 2.4% over the backlog as at 31 March 2011

* New awards totaled US$ 1.0 billion during the quarter and US$1.33
  billion for the first half of the year

* Infrastructure work constitutes 57.5% of the Construction Group
  backlog as at 30 June 2011

(1)  Consolidated financial figures presented in this press release are
     unaudited


Statement from the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer - Nassef
Sawiris

Second Quarter Results

OCI has continued to report strong results during 2011. During the
first half, our consolidated EBITDA and net income grew 38.2% and 42.4%
respectively over the same period last year. Net income during the
second quarter was impacted as a result of an increase to the Egyptian
corporate income tax rate from a previous 20% to 25%. The tax
calculation was required to include adjustments for the first quarter
as well, resulting in total tax adjustments of approximately US$ 23
million of which US$ 17 million were deferred tax adjustments related
to current and previous periods.

During the second quarter, the Fertilizer Group sold approximately 1.17
million tons of nitrogen-based fertilizers. Despite witnessing a soft
fertilizer pricing patch during the quarter, prices have already
rebounded in late July and August. Backed by strong fundamentals in
commodities, the rebound should bode well for prices during the next 12
months. Ammonia and calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) prices have remained
firm throughout the year on the back of robust demand from North
America and Europe.

The Fertilizer Group is currently focused on its organic initiatives
and major capacity additions in Egypt, Algeria, the Netherlands and the
US. All major capital expenditures related to these initiatives have
been spent and all the projects are currently in commissioning phases
to start contributing to earnings during the coming 6 months.

Commissioning of Sorfert Algeria continues to progress on-track and the
plant is scheduled to enter commercial production before the end of the
year. Sorfert will add 1.2 million tons of urea and 0.8 million tons of
ammonia to the Group annually.

In the Netherlands, OCI Nitrogen is on track with the expansion of its
CAN line which is expected to increase capacity by 300 thousand tons
per annum or approximately 25%. The capacity increase will be complete
in early 2012. OCI Nitrogen is also restarting a 30 thousand ton
melamine plant in Geleen which has been shutdown since 2008. The plant
is expected to start operations by year end. Moreover, OCI Nitrogen is
also debottlenecking its ammonium nitrate (AN) liquor capacity which
will maximize production capacity of its urea ammonium nitrate (UAN)
line.

In the US, turnaround of Pandora Methanol LLC (Pandora) is on-track
with the ammonia and methanol production lines scheduled to start
during the fourth quarter of 2011 and second quarter of 2012
respectively. Pandora will add 250 thousand tons of ammonia and 750
thousand tons of methanol production capacities to the Group. In
addition, the plant has an ammonia tank with a capacity of 18 thousand
tons and two methanol storage tanks with a capacity of 22 thousand tons
each. The plant has pipeline connections to adjacent customers and port
access with dedicated methanol and ammonia import/export jetties and
will ship both products along the Gulf Coast.

Egyptian Fertilizer Company's (EFC) debottlenecking initiatives at EFC
Line II and EFC Line I are expected to be complete before the end of
the first quarter of 2012. The debottlenecking at EFC will increase
capacity by 250 thousand tons per annum or approximately 20% to an
annual capacity of 1.55 million tons.

The Construction Group reported a 2.4% increase in backlog over the
previous quarter, the first such increase in 6 quarters. The Group
secured US$ 1 billion in new construction work during the second
quarter with new awards for the first half totaling US$ 1.33 billion.
The Group also managed to secure sizeable contract awards in Egypt
despite a slow tendering environment ahead of parliamentary and
presidential elections scheduled for the fourth quarter and the first
quarter of next year. In addition, the Group is currently in advanced
negotiation stages in several markets across the region for contracts
totaling north of US$ 1 billion. These markets include Egypt, UAE,
Iraq, Morocco and Saudi Arabia. We expect an improvement in our
Construction Group backlog by year end.

OCI is commencing a process to change its legal status in to a Law 95
Holding Company. The proposal will be shortly put forward to the
shareholders in an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM). Post EGM
approval, the proposal will require the approval of the Egyptian
Financial Services Authority (EFSA) and the Investment Authority. The
primary aim of this move is to reorganize the two operating businesses
in to two separate legal structures under the umbrella of the proposed
holding company.

The Board of Directors has approved the second installment of our
biannual dividend of US$ 1.10 dollar per share to be paid during the
first week of October. The second installment puts total dividends for
the year at US$ 2.10 per share.


For additional information contact:

OCI Investor Relations Department:

Omar Darwazah
Email:  omar.darwazah@orascomci.com 

Erika Wakid
Email:  erika.wakid@orascomci.com 
Hassan Badrawi
Director


Tel: +202 2461 1036/0727/0917
Fax: +202 2461 9409


For additional information on OCI:

 www.orascomci.com 

OCI stock symbols: OCIC.CA / ORCIEY / OCICqL / ORSD / ORSCY

Orascom Construction Industries (OCI)
Nile City Towers - South Tower
2005A Corniche El Nil
Cairo, Egypt

                    This information is provided by RNS
          The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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