Egyptian Resorts Company said on Sunday its net profit in the first half of 2008 dropped 31.2 per cent to 141.85 million Egyptian pounds ($26.6 million).

Abu Bakr Makhlouf, the company’s investor relations director, told Reuters the decline came as Egyptian Resorts started paying taxes in January 2008.

’Before that we had a 10-year tax holiday,’ he added. In June, HC Securities rated Egyptian Resorts a ’strong buy’ and maintained its price target of 10.99 Egyptian pounds on the stock.

Shares in the firm, which has extensive land holdings on the Red Sea coast, were trading 5 per cent higher at 4.4 pounds by 0927 GMT.-Reuters