By Andrew Raven

This issue marks the ninth edition of the bt100, our annual ranking of the top firms on the Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX).

More than just a corporate totem pole, the following pages contain special features, interviews with business titans and a cache of data you’d be hard pressed to find anywhere else.

So, who finished number 1? Well, I wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise.

But I can say that we have an in-depth look at perennial champion Orascom Telecom (OT), which experienced a dramatic year, even by its standards.

Reporter Nadine El-Sayed sits down with company CEO Khaled Bichara, who speaks candidly about OT’s battle with the Algerian government, the overtures of South African telecom giant MTN and the long-term prospects of the country’s most resilient company.

Meanwhile, Ali El-Bahnasawy explores one of the most important issues facing the markets: the 2011 presidential election. During the 2005 vote the EGX swung wildly, plunging 9% before gaining back most of that ground. El-Bahnasawy found that opinions are sharply divided on what will happen next year.

Reporter Jessica Gray charts the great delisting of 2010, which saw some 60 companies removed from the exchange as regulators cracked down on firms that failed to meet new listing requirements. She found more companies could follow suit later this year as the EGX looks to more accurately reflect the economic health of the country.

Meanwhile, Mariya Petkova examines what will happen when the market for high-end real estate runs out of steam. As it turns out, less wealthy Egyptians could finally get the homes they desperately need.

At the same time, we have a truncated news section with stories on the European financial crisis and what it means for this country, plus a look at an extreme sport taking Egypt by storm: kite surfing.

One final note. Putting together the bt100 – twice the size of a typical issue at 178 pages – is a massive undertaking. I would like to thank the editors, writers, designers and photographers of Business Today who have sacrificed a month’s worth of weekends to put this edition together. Without their dedication, it would not have become a reality.

We also owe a debt of gratitude to our research partner Beltone Financial, whose analysts sifted through hundreds of annual reports and crunched reams of numbers to come up with this year’s ranking. (As a general rule, it’s best to have journalists stay as far away from math as humanly possible.)

Enjoy. And as always, my inbox is open. bt