FinTech & SaaS Marketing

Fintech Stocks on the Egyptian Exchange: Fawry, e-finance, Valu and MNT-Halan Compared

8 min read

Disclaimer: This article compares business models using public information only. It is not investment advice, and it is not a recommendation to buy or sell any stock.

The Egyptian Exchange (EGX) now lists four of Egypt's best-known fintech names, and they make money in four very different ways. Fawry earns fees on payments and banking services. e-finance runs digital payment infrastructure for the government and businesses. Valu is a buy now, pay later (BNPL) and consumer finance platform. MNT-Halan is mainly a microfinance, consumer and small-business lender. Payment and infrastructure companies earn on transaction volume and carry little credit risk. Lenders earn the gap between what they charge borrowers and what they pay for funding, so their results depend on who repays.

The comparison became relevant on 20 October 2026, when MNT-Halan started trading under the ticker HALN at EGP 24.5 per share and rose as much as 18% on its first day, according to Launch Base Africa. I covered the deal itself in MNT-Halan IPO: the key facts. Here I want to look at the four business models side by side, because the model tells you more about growth and risk than the share price does.

The four companies at a glance

Fawry (FWRY): payments and banking services. FY2025 revenue of EGP 8.65 billion, up 57%, and net profit of EGP 2.89 billion, up 80%.
e-finance (EFIH): digital payment and collection infrastructure for the government, businesses and citizens. FY2025 consolidated revenue of EGP 6.77 billion and net profit after tax of about EGP 2.45 billion.
Valu: BNPL and consumer finance, part of the EFG Holding group. FY2025 gross revenue of EGP 5.6 billion, up 71%, and net profit of EGP 764 million, up 81%.
MNT-Halan (HALN): microfinance, consumer finance and small-business lending. FY2025 adjusted revenue of EGP 20.5 billion and net income of EGP 1.98 billion, up 44%.

One caution before comparing numbers: revenue is not like for like. A lender's revenue is mostly interest income on a large loan book, so a high revenue figure does not mean a more profitable business. Profit, margins and asset quality are the better comparison.

Payments: Fawry earns on every transaction

Fawry is a network business. In FY2025, banking services (agent banking and card acceptance) made up about 41% of revenue, financial services about 28%, and alternative digital payments about 23%. The company reports 54.8 million active network customers, more than 377,000 agents and around 376,600 point of sale (POS) terminals.

The interesting part is the fastest-growing line. Financial services revenue grew 135% in 2025, and Fawry's gross loans across micro, SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) and consumer lending reached about EGP 5.7 billion, including about EGP 2.9 billion in consumer BNPL. So Fawry is a payments company that is steadily adding credit on top of its network. That changes its risk profile over time, even if fees still dominate today.

Infrastructure: e-finance sells to the system

e-finance describes itself as the Egyptian government's digital transformation arm. Its group includes eFinance, eKhales, eNovate, eAswaaq and eNable, and it was selected to help run ventures such as Egypt's electronic tax system (eTax) and eHealth services for the Universal Health Insurance System. Its revenue comes from payment and collection services and from digitization projects, not from lending.

This is the lowest credit-risk model of the four. The questions to watch are different: how many new government and corporate mandates it wins, how dependent it is on public sector programs, and whether its consumer-facing services can grow beyond infrastructure.

BNPL: Valu lives on frequency and funding

Valu lets customers split purchases into instalments at partner merchants, and it has added a prepaid card, auto financing (Shift), loans and a marketplace (Shop'IT). In the first half of 2026 it reported net income of EGP 486 million, up 43%, with 955,000 active customers, more than 9,800 merchant partners and a non-performing loan (NPL) ratio of 1.16%. Enterprise noted that growth slowed sharply in the second quarter.

The engine of a BNPL business is repeat use. Valu's transactions per customer rose to 12.4 times in the first half, from 9.8 a year earlier. The other engine is funding: Valu relies on credit facilities from 28 financial institutions and regular securitizations. When interest rates move, a lender's margin moves with them.

Microfinance and consumer lending: MNT-Halan

MNT-Halan's listed Egyptian business lends to micro-entrepreneurs, consumers and small businesses through an app and more than 1,200 physical points across 25 governorates. It had about 1.9 million active customers and a gross loan book of EGP 46.7 billion at the end of June 2026. The company says its non-performing loans are below 2.5%.

I led digital and performance marketing at Halan from 2020 and later marketing and growth at group level until 2024, so I know this model well. In lending, the growth question is never only how many users you add. It is which users, at what cost of acquisition and at what cost of risk. A cheap customer who does not repay is the most expensive customer you can buy.

What the valuation multiples say, and what they do not

At the IPO price, MNT-Halan was valued at about 20 times its 2025 net income, according to Enterprise and Launch Base Africa. Valu traded at about 28.5 times earnings at the end of the third quarter, per Enterprise. Launch Base Africa also put Contact Financial Holding at around 18 times. StockAnalysis showed e-finance at a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of about 36 in early October, and Fawry's market capitalization at about EGP 65 billion, which is roughly 22 times its 2025 profit on my own calculation.

Treat these as a snapshot, not a ranking. Multiples move every trading day, and they reflect what the market expects about growth and risk. Markets often pay more for fee income than for interest income, because fees do not depend on borrowers repaying. For a deeper look at how the market got here, see Tech IPOs in Egypt: From Fawry to MNT-Halan.

What each model means for growth, risk and marketing

Payments (Fawry): growth comes from network reach and volume. The main risks are pressure on fees and competition. Marketing is mostly B2B2C (business to business to consumer): merchants, agents and banks.
Infrastructure (e-finance): growth comes from new mandates. The main risk is dependence on public sector programs. Marketing is about partnerships and credibility, not consumer ads.
BNPL (Valu): growth comes from purchase frequency and merchant coverage. The main risks are credit losses and funding costs. Marketing lives at the checkout and in retention.
Microfinance and consumer lending (MNT-Halan): growth comes from reach and loan book size. The main risks are credit, interest rates and regulation. Marketing is about trust, local presence and underwriting-aware acquisition.

The backdrop matters for all four. Launch Base Africa reports that the pound fell roughly 14% to 17% over the past year, headline inflation is above 14%, and Egypt introduced a temporary freeze on new fintech-based consumer finance licences in February 2026. A licence freeze can protect existing players and slow new ones at the same time.

FAQ

What fintech companies are listed on the Egyptian Exchange?

The best-known listed fintech names are Fawry (FWRY), e-finance (EFIH), Valu and MNT-Halan (HALN), which began trading on 20 October 2026. Other financial firms such as Contact Financial Holding are also listed, but these four are the ones most often compared as fintechs.

What is MNT-Halan's P/E compared with Valu?

At its IPO price of EGP 24.5, MNT-Halan was valued at about 20 times its 2025 net income, while Valu traded at about 28.5 times earnings at the end of the third quarter of 2026, according to Enterprise. Both numbers change with the share price, so check a live source before relying on them.

What is the difference between Fawry and e-finance?

Fawry runs a consumer and merchant payment network with agents, POS terminals and an app, and it is growing a lending business. e-finance mainly builds and runs payment and collection infrastructure for the government and large institutions, including Egypt's electronic tax system. Fawry is closer to the consumer; e-finance is closer to the state.

If you are building a fintech in Egypt or the Gulf and need to choose a growth model that the market will reward, get in touch or see how I work as a fractional CMO.

Sources

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