Cairo – Mubasher: The Egyptian Exchange (EGX) halted trading on the shares of Minapharm Pharmaceuticals.

Trading will remain suspended on the company’s stock until it responds to news reports about signing an agreement with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) to manufacture Sputnik V, the Russian vaccine against coronavirus (COVID-19), at its Cairo-based facility, the EGX said in a statement on Thursday.

Russia’s sovereign wealth fund announced signing an agreement with Minapharm to manufacture more than 40 million doses annually of Sputnik V.

Over the course of 2020, Minapharm achieved net profits of EGP 300.78 million, compared to EGP 141.09 million a year earlier, including minority shareholders’ rights.

The sales increased to EGP 2.36 billion last year from EGP 2.051 billion in 2019.