Palm Hills falls into loss, revenues plunge

Egypt's second-biggest listed property developer, Palm Hills, reported on Monday it made a net loss of 331.3 million Egyptian pounds($55 million) last year, compared with a profit of 526 million pounds in 2010, as sales revenue plunged 67.6 per cent.      The firm suffered from last year's uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak and was followed by graft probes that froze sales and increased cancellations. Palm Hills is among several real estate firms facing legal challenges contesting its land acquisition deals with the state.      Analysts said they had expected a big drop in the company's yearly sales.       'We cannot say the results were unexpected. We expected a sharp drop in revenues due to the unsolved legal disputes between the state and the company on the land deals which made people less interested in buying from the company,' investment and capital market analyst Nader Khedr said.       'Plus most of the firm's projects are in remote areas that many people now see as not safe given the drop in security in Egypt since the uprising,' he added.      Khedr also blamed the losses on the general slowdown in the Egyptian economy after the uprising.       Egypt's economy continues to suffer from worker strikes and political uncertainly, including a series of violent clashes against the ruling military council since the uprising, which have kept investors and tourists away.      The company's stock was down 4.7 per cent at 2.05 egyptian pounds.