The Palestine Exchange (PEX) Concludes Second Investment Road Show to London, UK
By The Palestine Exchange pex, PRNEWednesday, June 29, 2011
LONDON, June 30, 2011 -
- Aweidah: PEX Maintains
a Strong Record of Investment Returns
and Attractive Valuations
The Palestine Exchange (PEX) concluded its second road show to
London on 23-24 June 2011. Mr. Ahmad Aweidah, Chief Executive
Officer of PEX, headed the Palestinian delegation of four leading
listed companies; Palestine Telecommunications (PALTEL), PADICO
Holding, Bank of Palestine and Wataniya Palestine Mobile, in
addition to Dr. Mohammad Mustafa, Economic Advisor of President
Mahmoud Abbas and Chairman of the Palestinian Investment Fund, CEO
of the Palestine Capital Markets Authority, and Rasmala Palestine
Equity Fund.
(Photo:
The Palestine business delegation showcased success stories of
leading listed companies and presented investment opportunities in
the Palestinian market. More than thirty (30) meetings were held
between the Palestinian delegation and leading global and UK
institutional investors. The delegation visit generated Media
interest from prominent regional and international financial media.
The visit also included a round table discussion with Mr. David
Levin, CEO of UBM and senior representatives from PR Newswire on
new trends in disclosure & investor relations.
London Stock Exchange (LSE) hosted the Palestine Capital Markets
Day on 24 June 2011. The occasion was marked with the opening of
the London Stock Exchange Markets by Mr Ahmad Aweidah, CEO of the
Palestine Exchange and Mr. Ammar Aker, CEO of Paltel Group
(Sponsors). The Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alderman Michael
Bear and Dr. Mohammad Mustafa, Economic Advisor to president
Mahmoud Abbas also attended the ceremony together with senior
representatives from LSE & the Palestinian delegation.
On the sidelines of the road show activities, PADICO holding
signed a memorandum of understanding on issuing the first
Palestinian Global Depository Receipts (GDR) with the Bank of New
York Mellon.
Aweidah expressed his satisfaction from the level of interest
expressed by the investment community in London. “Being for the
second time in London and the fact that London is the world’s
financial hub can be a very important channel in steering
investment flows into Palestinian listed stocks. PEX plans to
conduct an annual event in London especially now that PEX has
proven to be a robust Exchange among its emerging markets peers,”
Aweidah confirmed.
“Our event comes at a very opportunistic time when our exchange
presents both strong returns on investment and attractive
valuations. Indeed so far this year the Palestinian Al-Quds Index
remains the best performing among Arab exchanges and we therefore
continue to represent untapped investment potential,” Aweidah
concluded.
Ammar Aker, CEO of Paltel Group, said: “We at the Paltel Group
are very happy with our listing at the Palestine Exchange. The
exchange in 2010 was the most rewarding in terms of return on
investment averaging 13.6%; with distributed dividends exceeding
USD 152 million. Paltel Group contributed USD$74.26 million to
these dividends, a ratio of 49%. We will continue to lead with our
innovation and positive outlook for the future. Our free float of
51.9% allows more investors to seriously come into our market
and own our stock. Once they own our stock, they can be part of our
promise. While maintaining our gains from 2010 our strategy will
focus on additional diversification of our revenue streams from
data communications, while developing our backbone for more content
channeling in the fixed line operations. For our mobile operations,
the future is in 3G technology, and multimedia applications, we are
certainly determined to use these new platforms to increase our
market share and benefit from the good remaining penetration rate.
We see growth indicators in all our operations for 2012 and
certainly will channel this growth back to our investors in our
consistent dividends policy.”
The second PEX road show to London was organized in partnership
with Paltel Group (Sponsors) and is in line with the strategic
outlook of PEX to attract local, regional and international
investors into the Palestinian stock market.
About the Palestine Exchange (PEX)
The Palestine Exchange (PEX) was established in 1995 as a
private shareholding company. It became a public shareholding
company in 2010 responding to principles of transparency and good
governance.
For nearly 14 years, PEX has maintained its presence under
challenging political and economic conditions. It has positioned
itself as a robust exchange among its emerging markets peers with a
return on investment of about 6% over the last five years. PEX is
recognized for its advanced and effecient working environment.
As of June 1, 2011, 46 companies are listed on PEX with
market cap of some $2.9 billion across five sectors: Banking and
Financial Services, Insurance, Investments, Industry, and Services.
78% of listed companies are profitable as of Q1 2011. PEX had 10
member brokerage firms as at 1 June 2011.
2010 saw the most generous dividend distribution given the
outstanding performance of many PEX listed companies, (35) out of
(46) companies were profitable in 2010. Dividends in 2010 exceeded
152m USD, with an average return on investment of 13.6%. The
Al-Quds Index led all Arab markets’ indices as at 31 March 2011
where it closed up by 1.65% compared to the close of 2010 and was
the only Arab exchange in positive territory. Up until 26 June 2011
it remains the only Arab exchange index in positive territory.
About Paltel Group
Paltel Group is an integrated holding company consisting of the
Palestine Telecommunications Co. (Paltel) the nation’s first fixed
line operator, the Palestine Cellular Communications Co. (Jawwal)
the first mobile operator, Hadara, a data services provider, Hulul
the IT support services provider and Palmedia, a multi media
service provider. Today, the Mobile arm has roughly 2.24M
subscribers; Fixed Line has 375,000 subscribers, and 125,000 ADSL
subscribers.
Paltel’s net earnings grew from USD$ 8.6 million in 2000
to USD$ 121 million in 2010. Paltel stock represents the
Palestine Stock Exchange (over 50% of daily turnover) bringing its
value up and is attracting regional investors to the Palestine
Capital Markets.
Paltel Group recently restructured operations, focusing on core
services while reducing expenses and guaranteeing new services.
Paltel’s objective is to grow the market and its share by focusing
on internet, data services and incentive packages while increasing
infrastructure solutions.
Contact Information
Fida Musleh/Azar
Manager of PEX Representative Office-Ramallah, Manager of Public
Relations
Palestine Exchange (PEX)
Email: fida.azar@pex.ps
Tel: +970(or 972)-9-2390-999 Fax: +970(or 972)-9-2390-998
www.pex.ps
.
Tags: June 30, London, Palestine, The Palestine Exchange (pex), United Kingdom
