LONDON, June 30, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

 

- 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: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20110630/465315 )

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

http://www.pex.ps

PalestineExchange

SOURCE The Palestine Exchange (PEX)