Egypt's Misr Cement Qena profit falls, strike shuts factories

Egypt's Misr Cement Qena said on Sunday its nine-month net profit fell 16 per cent from a year earlier. Net profit fell to 263.7 million Egyptian pounds ($44.2 million) from 313.9 million pounds in the first nine months of 2010, it said in a statement released by the stock exchange. The firm also said it had shut its factories indefinitely because of a strike by employees demanding higher wages. Ahmed Imam, a company official, told Reuters the firm operated one factory with production capacity of 5,400 tonnes of cement per day. Misr Cement Qena is 27.6 per cent owned by ASEC, which is the cement division of private equity firm Citadel Capital .