Hi Online performance of Egypt's top 50 companies!.

Hi Online performance of Egypt's top 50 companies!.

- "A conducted study in which they evaluated the online performance of Egypt’s top 50 companies – and the results call for action."

The top five companies in the list of overall online presence are: Mobinil, Commercial International Bank (CIB), National Société Générale Bank (NSGB), Egyptian Satellites (NileSat) and Orascom Development Holding (ODH).

The 50 companies were extracted from the official bt100 list of Egypt’s best performing companies in the stock market 2013. 

They were evaluated according to Web (reputation of website and traffic), Search Engine Optimization – SEO (visibility in search engines), and Social (presence in social networks). Mobinil ranked first in the Web and Social Web categories, whereas NileSat ranked best in the Search Engine category.

Egypt has a severe problem with SEO. Keywords and Search Engine Optimization make up a huge part of a company’s online presence – however, many websites of the country’s top companies do not really work, have bad back-links, or too little keywords. They also do not make attempts to collect email addresses of their customers or visitors, in order to be able to contact them later on. NileSat and ODH lead the list of companies that are most visible in search engines, and Mobinil and CIB have the best website reputation and traffic.

Using Social Media for online presence and marketing is essential, since it is a very talkative sphere and companies should use that to meet potential customers and attract new customers. 

However, 40% of the top 50 companies do not have a Facebook-page, and 68% do not have a Twitter-account. For instance, 

Twitter can be a great tool for customer-support, but Egyptian companies – with the exception of a few – have not yet realized that potential. T

he report shows that even existing company accounts mostly have an inactive fan-base, which shows that not enough time, money or effort is invested in online engagement with followers.

The study was prepared by Absolit Dr. Schwarz Consulting. 

The numbers in this study were extracted from various services and studies, as well as self-researched reports. 

  Alphabetical list of all evaluated companies:

1. Abou Kir Fertilizers.
2. Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank - Egypt.
3. Al Arafa for Investments & Consultancies (Arafa Holding).
4. Al Baraka Bank Egypt.
5. Al Watany Bank of Egypt (AWB) - now National Bank of Kuwait - Egyp.t
6. Alexandria Containers and Goods.
7. Amer Group Holding.
8. ASEC Company for Mining (ASCOM).
9. Citadel Capital.
10. Commercial International Bank (Egypt) - (CIB).
11. Crédit Agricole Egypt.
12. Egyptian Chemical Industries (KIMA).
13. Egyptian Company for Mobile Services (Mobinil).
14. Egyptian Financial Group - Hermes Holding (EFG Hermes).
15. Egyptian International Pharmaceutical Industries Company (EIPICO).
16. Egyptian Resorts Company.
17. Egyptian Satellites (NileSat).
18. El Sewedy Electric.
19. Export Development Bank of Egypt (EDBE).
20. Ezz Steel.

21. Faisal Islamic Bank of Egypt.

22. GB Auto (Ghabbour Auto).
23. Golden Pyramids Plaza.
24. Housing and Development Bank (HDB).
25. Juhayna Food Industries.
26. Lecico Egypt..
27. Madinet Nasr for Housing and Development.

28. Maridive & Oil Services.
29. Medical Union Pharmaceuticals.
30. Misr Conditioning (MIRACO).
31. National Société Générale Bank (NSGB) - now QNB AlAhli.
32. North Africa Company for Real Estate Investment.
33. Olympic Group Financial Investments.
34. Orascom Construction Industries.
35. Orascom Development Holding (AG).
36. Orascom Hotels and Development (OHD).
37. Oriental Weavers.
38. Osool ESB Securities Brokerage.
39. Paints and Chemical Industries Company (PACHIN).
40. Palm Hills Development.

41. Pioneers Holding.
42. Remco for Touristic Villages Construction..
43. Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals (SIDPEC).
44. Six of October Development and Investment Company (SODIC).
45. Société Arabe Internationale de Banque (SAIB).
46. Suez Canal Bank.
47. Suez Cement Company.
48. Talaat Moustafa Group (TMG).
49. The Arab Dairy Products Company (Arab Dairy).
50. Union National Bank - Egypt (UNB-E).

Hi Egypt says to repay debts to foreign oil companies within six months.

Hi Egypt says to repay debts to foreign oil companies within six months.

By Ehab Farouk and Lin Noueihed:

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt plans to repay all of its $4.9 billion debt to foreign oil and gas companies within six months, the oil ministry said on Thursday, a move it hopes will prompt them to boost exploration and ease the worst energy crunch in decades.

Egypt has delayed payments to oil and gas firms as its economy has been hammered by almost three years of instability since a popular uprising ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

Arrears began to accumulate before the revolt, but worsening state finances saw the debts mount to billions of dollars while the government diverted gas earmarked for export to meet domestic demand.

Gas production has steadily declined in Egypt while consumption keeps rising, but firms have been reluctant to increase investment in exploration and production, particularly in costly offshore areas, until the government repays them.

The ministry said in a statement that Egypt planned to borrow $2 billion to help it finance the repayments, seeking to repay 60 percent of the arrears by year-end.

"This offering comes as one of the short-term measures taken by the government to pay the (international oil companies') arrears," Oil Minister Sherif Ismail said in the statement.

He said state oil and gas boards EGPC and EGAS were holding further talks with the companies, in parallel with repayments, to "manage their expectations".

Egypt said in October it had repaid $1.5 billion of the money owed, leaving $4.9 billion outstanding.

But Dana Gas <DANA.AD> said on Wednesday it understood that about half that amount had been repaid, with $700 million more due by year-end.

It expects to get some of that cash and also plans to invest more than $350 million in Egypt over the next few years to drill new wells and redevelop existing wells.

BG Group's <BG.L> earnings have been hit hard by the turmoil as its production and exports of liquefied natural gas from Egypt have been disrupted.

"The Egyptians have paid a big tranche in September and have promised to repay more within a few months, but they have made similar promises in the past and we will have to wait till we see the money," a senior source at BG said.

The gas shortage has left the Arab world's most populous country struggling with blackouts that became almost daily over the summer. The government has also diverted gas away from heavy industries, hitting companies' performance.

Egypt began cutting subsidies on fuel and electricity in July as part of economic reforms aimed at curtailing its budget deficit and curbing growth in energy consumption.

(Additional reporting by Ron Bousso and Karolin Schaps in London and Matt Smith in Dubai; Editing by David Goodman and Susan Fenton).