The market value of Egyptian businesswoman Hend El-Sherbini’s stake in Egypt-based healthcare services provider Integrated Diagnostics Holdings (IDH) has dropped by nearly $20 million in the last 26 days as investors cycle out funds from their shareholdings in the company.
Hend El-Sherbini is the CEO of IDH, a leading consumer healthcare group in the Middle East and Africa, with 483 labs spread across four countries: Egypt, Jordan, Sudan and Nigeria.
The leading businesswoman owns a significant 25.5-percent stake in the group, which translates to 152,982,356 ordinary shares.
The decline in the market value of her stake can be attributed to fund-reallocation and portfolio-rotation activities by investors, which resulted in a recent sell-off of shares on the London Stock Exchange, as earnings season approaches.
Investors reallocating funds into companies operating in underserved sectors and industries such as mining, tourism and automotive resulted in a single-digit drop in IDH shares.
Shares in the consumer healthcare group were trading at $1.27 as of press time on Feb. 2, 1.92-percent lower than their opening price on the London Stock Exchange.
In the past 26 days, shares in the group have slumped by more than 9.2 percent from a price of $1.4 on Jan. 7 to $1.27 at the time of drafting this report.
Between Jan. 7 and Feb. 2, the market value of El-Sherbini’s stake fell from $214.2 million to $195.8 million due to a decline in IDH’s share price.
This translates to a $19.9-million loss for the multimillionaire businesswoman in 26 days.
Despite the recent loss, the market value of her stake in IDH is up by more than $22 million over the last year thanks to a 13.3-percent increase in the group’s share price.
IDH recently signed a sale and purchase agreement to acquire the majority stake in Islamabad Diagnostic Center, one of Pakistan’s largest integrated diagnostics providers, in an effort to create value for shareholders.
The $72.35-million transaction will be completed in the first half of 2022, and IDH will take control of IDC upon its completion in accordance with its strategic expansion plans for South Asia.
Experts believe the acquisition is a step forward in the group’s geographic expansion strategy to enter new, rapidly growing emerging markets with favorable demographics and an underserved diagnostics sector.
The acquisition will put IDH in the position to leverage its asset diversification strategies and increase revenue and earnings.
The Egypt-based healthcare services provider reported a 206-percent increase in earnings to EGP1.15 billion ($73.05 million) in the first nine months of 2021, its highest-ever profit.
