Talaat Moustafa Group (TMG), Egypt's biggest listed property developer, reported a 2.5 percent rise in first-quarter net profit as sales rebounded from the same period of 2011, when they were disrupted by political turmoil.

The firm reported on Monday net profit of 173.7 million Egyptian pounds ($28.8 million) in the first quarter, compared to last year's 169.4 million pounds.

Sales jumped to 1.08 billion pounds compared with 568 million in the same period a year earlier.

"These new sales should be recorded in the income statement over the coming years upon delivery of related units sold," CI Capital said of the figures.

CI Capital analyst Hany Samy said the consensus of market forecasts compiled by his institution was 163 million pounds, meaning TMG's net profit came in 7 percent higher.

"So far, the company is moving in the right direction but of course any negative development in the state's political situation will reflect badly on the firm, as well as others," he said. A presidential election starts on May 23 and 24.

The firm's total revenues dropped 5.4 percent to 1.30 billion pounds from 1.37 billion in the same period last year. Its shares slipped 0.9 percent, compared to the benchmark index which was down 0.4 percent.

TMG, like most firms in Egypt, suffered deeply from the economic turmoil sparked by the uprising that erupted in January 2011 and drove Hosni Mubarak from office in early February of that year.

A big burden was lifted from the firm in November when an administrative court ended a row over the legality of the company's purchase of state land for its flagship Madinaty project. - Reuters