HENATES

At the Nigerian Stock Exchange, on Wednesday February 27, Sterling Bank regained its usual investors interest by recording above 1000 deals in one day. In recent times. Zenith Bank's 754 deals for 63m offload on February 12 had been the month's highest number of deals. On January 30, 2019 Sterling Bank had come close to 1000 deals with 988 deals recorded while 32.297m of its shares were exchanged. On February 26, it had looked like Sterling Bank had lost the shine as it recorded only 186 deals but that notion was pushed back on Wednesday. This is because it ended the day with 1,062 deals for 13.374m shares worth  N33.341m as Sterling barely closed up. Its closest rival was again Zenith Bank with 462 deals for 9.755m shares worth N245.779m while losing N0.9 or 3.49% per share. Top traded volume for the day was as 187.429m shares of Diamond Bank were offloaded in 135 deals valued at N466.652m while losing N0.05 per share. It was a bearish day of sorts after the form...

The Nairobi stock market once again closed with low trade on Wednesday, February 27  although traded value was almost double, thanks to deals in high priced British American Tobacco There were only 934 deals involving 8.571m shares worth higher Ksh 405.551m as against 924 deals for 8.716m shares valued at Ksh 203.075m on Tuesday. The swinger in terms of traded value was clearly BAT in which deals were recorded for 355,400 shares worth Ksh 600 and 609 per share. BAT actually ended up also pacing price drop in the process with Ksh 8 per share decline to Ksh 608 per share after hitting day high of Ksh 609 and low of Ksh 600 compared to Ksh 616 per share on Tuesday. The BAT trade made the manufacturing sector to contribute 53.4% of the day's traded value; a rare development since most trading statistics were normally dominated by Safaricom or the Banking sector. BAT led 28 price losers to depress the All share index to 154.59 by 0.64points. Other major price drops include K...

It has become almost a cliché to say that the year 2018 was tough for most businesses in Nigeria but not quite so for Transcorp PLC According to figures for the year released recently by the group, the only factors that tried to hold the group to account were decline in Other income and, to an extent, growth in administration costs Going for the group were 29.7% growth in core income to N104,162.8m from N80,285m though reduced to 28.6% increase in total income to N105,659.5m by Other income drop by 24.2% to N997.2m. More good news came in the form of cost of sales growth at 27.5% to N55,910.4m; that is below the core revenue growth recorded. This resulted in gross profit growth by 32.5% to N48,252.4m. It was this growth rate, 24.2% increase in administration costs to N14,600.3m tried to dampen but because it was lower than the gross profit rise, operating profit ended 33.1% up at N34,649.3m From here on it was plain sailing for Transcorp PLC . Finance cost dropped by 0.95% to...

There is no running away from it: The time  has come for Kenya's East African C Portland Cement PLC to fight to live or lay down and die. According to the interim figures for the half year to December 2018 released this week, the picture looks very bleak and EAPC may indeed need all the help it can get to survive. From the figures, only two items on the balance sheet gave any cause for smiles: Income from other sources other than  core business and finance costs. Finance costs dropped by 34.7% to Ksh 204.7m from Ksh 313.5m indicating some reward for efforts to reduce its pressure while Other income rose to Ksh 20.4m from Ksh 1.2m. Unfortunately, both were drops in an ocean of bad news. The first main challenge was that core revenue declined by 55.2% to Ksh 1372.1m thus dragging total revenue down 54.5% to Ksh 1393.37 from Ksh 3064.7m. Then direct cost that the core revenue refused to decline as fast as the core revenue. It dropped by only 38.3' to Ksh 1800m from Ksh 2...

After starting the week on an optimistic note on Monday February 25, Ghana Stock Exchange closed downwards on Tuesday February 26 2019 raising spectre of another round of decline. The Ghana Composite Index had closed up on Monday as out 3 price changes, 2 were gains. On Tuesday, the reverse more or less the case 3 price drops and 2 gains. Hence the GCI dropped 8.43 points to 2490.85 from Monday's 2499.28. All 3 price drops were by banks while only one bank ended up. The decline was led by Ghana Commercial Bank with GHs 0.06 per share decline to close at GHs 4.04 per share compared to GHs 4.1 on Monday. This was after recording last deal in the exchange of 1100 shares at GHs 4 per share. More deals could have been struck but for closing bid and offer price mismatch as bid dropped sharply to GHs 3.5 per share and offer price eased down to GHs 4.0 per share which incidentally was a new low for GCB. Republica Bank Ghana also declined but by GHs 0.05 per share as it closed at ...

The All share index at the Nairobi Securities Exchange moved up more cautiously on Tuesday February despite more price changes and wider margins when compared to Monday. On Monday, the ASI closed 0.67 points up despite Ksh 1.25 per share being the top gain as 33 price changes were recorded. Come Tuesday, the ASI rose by only 0.20 points to 155.23 despite 37 price changes with top gain being Ksh 30 per share recorded by pace setting Limuru Tea. Limuru found and closed at Ksh 580 per share as against Ksh 550 on Monday. Indeed, it was a day the market was more optimistic about the agric sector as, apart from Limuru, Williamson Tea gained Ksh 4 per share and Sasini topped up with N1.05 per share although Kapchorua Tea lost Ksh 0.50 per share. Other major price gainers were  British American Tobacco. Up Ksh 6 per share; and Jubilee Holdings with Ksh 4 per share top up. Amongst the price losers, the pace was set by Standard Chartered Bank with Ksh 5.50 per share drop to close at Ks...

Nestlé Nigeria is not a stranger to sharp price changes but most cases it is not a solo but on Tuesday, February 26, it was to an extent at the Nigerian Stock Exchange. Nestle is the market's top priced equity and in February alone, it has closed sharply up and down five times before the one of Tuesday. It rose by N30 or 3.66% per share on February 8th, added another N90 or 6% by the 12th   before shedding N25 or 1.57% on the 15th before losing another N20 or 1.35% per share on 20th after topping up with N35 or 2.24% on February 18th. On Tuesday, it did a solo down with  N70 or 4.43% per share to close at N1510 per share after hitting day low of N1508.7 compared to Monday's N1580 per share. It turned out to be the lone equity with above N1 per share drop hence was principally responsible for 0.69& drop in the All share index to 32,473.82 despite there being 21 price gains and 20 drops. This was as Nestlé recorded 42 deals that led to exchange of 0.053m shares for ...

The  Nigerian Stock Exchange closed on a rather optimistic note on Monday February 25 after the presidential elections were held on Saturday February 23. Results were still trickling in by Monday night but at the market, 25 price gains and only 8 drops were recorded although the resultant growth in the All share Index came to 0.57% to 32,700. Nigerian Breweries paced the gainers in style  as it found and closed at N83.2 per share, up N3.2 or 4% on the  N80 recorded previously. The style came from leading trade for the day as well with 78 deals for day high 42.710m shares valued at equally pace setting N3.552bn. It was followed by 11 PLC up N2 or 1.12% per share in 15 deals for 0.172m shares worth N31.093m. On the other hand, Total Nigeria recorded a solo above  N1 per share drop by closing down N5 or 2.56% per share while posting 29 deals involving 0.161m shares worth N30.926m. In all, there were 2999 deals for 219.808m shares valued at N5.549bn  compared to Friday's 26...

At the Ghana Stock Exchange last week, deals struck at the Bond segment averaged 374.8 with the pace set by trade on Friday and Wednesday. On Friday, week high 525 deals were sealed for bonds worth GHs 138.775m which incidentally was the lowest traded value for the week. On Wednesday, however, all week high GHs 263.754m was recorded in 2nd ranked 410 deals. All other days recorded below average investor interest. Thursday, February 21 ended with 346 deals valued at GHs 249.542m, ahead of Tuesday February 19's  314 deals worth GHs 226.689m; and Monday's 279 deals valued at GHs 197.213m. No figures for Monday February 25 2019 were available but at the Equity market, the Composite index rose to 2499.28 from Friday's firm 2493.23. This was as 2 gains and 1 price drop were recorded. The lone decline was by SIC Insurance, down GHs 0.01 per share as it closed at last deal price of GHs 0.18  per share compared to GHs 0.19 on Friday. Total Petroleum Ghana  closed up by G...

It was a close finish for 17 price gains and 16 drops on Monday February 25, 2019 at the Nairobi Securities Exchange but the All share index ended 0.67% up at 155.03. The gain margins in terms of Kenyan shillings were not high but Safaricom did close up Ksh 0.45 per share as it recorded deals for leading 4.925m shares exchanged for Ksh 130m at between Ksh 26.15 and 26.12 per share. The lead gain was I & M Holdings Ksh 1.25 per share as it found and closed at Ksh 95 per share compared to Ksh 93.75 previously. No other price gain crossed the Ksh 1 per share as Diamond Trust Bank trailed with Ksh 0.75 per share gain followed by Safaricom's top up. In contrast, 4 price drops were each above Ksh 1 per share led by East African Breweries Ksh 3.75 per share decline to close at Ksh 195 per share. This is against Ksh 198.75 per share on Friday. It was followed by Ksh 2.25 per share decline by Nation Media; Ksh 2.20 per share drop by Unga Group and Bank of Kigali's Ksh 1.85...

There was a rash of price drops on Friday at the Nairobi Securities  Exchange that resulted in the All share index closing the week 2.93 points or 1.86% down. There were 31 price drops against only 11 gains and the ASI finally closed the day at 154.36 compared to 157.29 on previous Friday. There were a rash of major price decline too as about 10 equities posted above Ksh 1 per share. The losers were paced by Williamson Tea with Ksh 9 per share decline to close at Ksh 146 compared to Ksh 155 per share on Thursday. Closely trailing were Bamburi Cement down Ksh 8 per share; BOC Kenya with Ksh 6.50 per share drop; and  British American Tobacco down Ksh 4 per share. Other major price drops were Jubilee Holdings' Ksh 3 per share decrease; Standard Chartered Bank with Ksh 1.75 per share decline; Standard Group's Ksh 1.30 per share, Ksh 1.25 per share drop by I&M Holdibgs; Total Kenya's Ksh 1.05 per share decline and Ksh 1 per share decline in Diamond Trust Bank. In...

There were slightly more price gainers than price losers at the Nigerian stock exchange on Friday February 22 2019 but the All share index closed down 0.16% to 32,515.52. There were a total of 20 price gainers and 17 losers  with top 2 of the price gainers having higher Naira margin of price shift but of course, what drives the ASI is how such price changes on impact on the valuation pool of total market capitalisation. The price gainers were paced by 11 Plc which continues to be listed on the exchange as Mobil despite name change long ago, with day high N8 or 4.71% per share increase as it found and closed at N178 per share as against N170 previously. This was as 11 Plc (Mobil?) recorded 11 deals for 0.25m shares valued at N4.476m. It was trailed by Total Nigeria of the same petroleum marketing sector with N5 or 2.63% per share rise while closing with just 5 deals for 0.01m shares worth N1.990m. Both were the only price gains above N1 per share because Zenith Bank featured at 3rd plac...

Can shareholders on Kenya Electricity Generating Company Plc otherwise known as Ken Gen afford to smile when the current financial year ends in June 2019? May be, says figures for the half year to December 2018 released this week but at best don't bet on a very broad smile. From the figures available, the smile on shareholders faces will depend on continued decline in steam costs and finance charges, and hopefully what the new generating plant to be brought on stream in July brings to the table. Meanwhile, by half year, total income was down 1.69% to Ksh 23,287m from Ksh 23,689m as 68.8% leap in Other income helped reduce impact of 0.62% decline in electricity sales revenue to Ksh 22,185m and 34.3% dive in gains from forex etc to Ksh 649m from Ksh 988m. Also, it was not helpful that in spite of the revenue drop, operating expenses rose by 7.14% to Ksh 4648m from Ksh 4980m and finance income dropped by 3.59% to Ksh 242m from Ksh 251m. What saved the day was 17.7% decline in finance ...

KEN KOBIL SUSPENDED AT STOCK MARKET. Ken Kobil plc, one of the very active equities listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange has been suspended from trading till March 11, 2019. According to an official notice released by the Exchange, the suspension was requested by the Capital Market Authority of Kenya because of take over offer from Rubis Ebergie SAS to Ken Kobil. Ken Kobil is quoted in the Energy and Petroleum sector of the market and until its suspension, was one of the five traded virtually on daily basis in the sector. The other very active ones are Ken Gen; Kenya Power & Lighting; Total Kenya and Uganda based Umeme ltd. NEW CEO FOR SASINI PLC From March 1, 2019 a new Group Managing Director in the person of Mr Martin R Ochien'g will take over at Sasini PLC, an agric company quoted on the Nairobi stock market. According to formal notice from Sasini board of directors, the new CEO brings to bear 25 years experience in international trade and business management. His care...

Curiously, on Monday,February 18, 2019, 11 equities recorded deals that resulted in the exchange of 164,927 shares. Come Tuesday February 19, the number of equities with deals reduced by just 1 and traded volume rose to 356,719. That is more than twice the Monday figure. Now on Wednesday February 20, 2019 the number of equities with traded shares  reduced by  1 again this time to 9 and guess what?  Traded volume nearly doubled to 675,800 shares. Clearly a case of more volume from fewer equities in 3 straight days since the week started. Two equities made the day on Wednesday as far as traded volume was concerned. Societe Genetale  set the pace with  529,000 of its shares exchanged at firm GHs 0.98 per share. Offer price later closed at GHs 1 per share leading to mismatch. MTN Ghana witnessed 114,700 shares exchange at GHs 0.74 per share, up GHs 1 per share from GHs 0.73 on Tuesday. Thus, it was among the 2 equities with gains by the day's close. The other was CAL Bank with GHs 0.05...

For 6th day running after closing firm first time since Henates review of the market, the All share index at Nairobi Securities Exchange eased by 0.68 points to 155.54. It closed firm at 160.28 on February 12, 2019 and since then has been going down daily  adding up to decline of 4.74 points or 2.96% in 6 trading days. The Wednesday drop was precipitated by 28 price drops and 11 gains  with not a single gain above Ksh 1 per share. In contrast, 3 equities scaled this border line led by British American Tobacco that is yet ex-dividend. BAT closed the day at N613 per share down Ksh 22 per share on Tuesday's Ksh 635 per share after touching day low of Ksh 601 and high of Ksh 630 per share. This was while recording deals for only 1800 units. In the same manufacturing sector with BAT, East African Breweries shed N5.75 per share followed by Stanbic Holdings in the commercial and services sector with Ksh 3 per share decline. Top gain was Ksh 0.50 per share by the duo of Unga Group and Diam...

Because it is the top priced equity in the Nigerian stock market, when Nestle Nigeria declines or increases in price it is most times in a big way. On Monday February 18, 2019 it rose by N35 or 3.24% per share after sliding by N25 or 1.57% per share the previous trading day, Friday February 15. On Wednesday February 20, it led price drop once again this time by N20 or 1.25% per share to close at N1580 per share after touching day high of N1600 and dropping to a low of N1540.2 per share from Friday's N1600. This time, Nestle recorded 70 deals for 0.743m shares worth 2nd ranked N1.156bn but the catch really, its double digit drop was a solo really and no other price decline was above N1 per share. Its closest was Unilever Nigeria withN0.6 or 1.38% per share drop amidst 72 deals for 3.534m shares worth N150.727m. There were in fact only 16 price drops and 26 gains meaning that it was even a surprise of sorts that the All share index rose by only 0.64% to 32,614.06. Amongst the gainers...

Apparently it was a year that looked certain to offer Zenith Bank not a new zenith to scale but potential to seek a new bottom. According to the full year figures released this week by the bank, gross earnings declined by 15.4% to N630,344m from 2017's N745.189m. This was principally because income from trading activities dived by 49.22% to N80,202m from N157,974m; other operating income declined by 20.04% to N17,947m; net fee and commission dropped by 0.89% to N81,814m and interest income went down 7.28% to N144,458m. Decoded all income streams of Zenith Bank slowed down dangerously in 2018 year but the bank still ended up with 16.22% rise in profit before tax to N231,685m and with a much stronger bottom line of 36.8% compared to 26.7% in 2017. How come? Simple. First, there was 65.3% slump in impairment provision to N18,372m from 2017's N98,227m and this is hoping it was because the bank's loan portfolio had become far less toxic. In addition, interest expense that genera...

As if to establish clearly the 4 reasons to return to downwards slide, the Ghana Stock Exchange closed with 4 price changes on Tuesday February 19 and all were pointed down. As a result the Ghana Composite Index dropped by 16.02 points to 2481.9 after the rally on Monday. CAL Bank led the 4 price drops by closing at GHs 0.86 per share, down GHs 0.05 on the GHs 0.91 per share recorded on Monday  This was after 123,800 shares had been exchanged with last deal price of GHs 0.85 per share. In other words after the last deal was struck, CAL bank recovered by GHs 0.01 per share to close at higher GHs 0.86 per share. The 3 other decline in prices were of the same GHs 0.01 per share range. Ghana Commercial Bank's 300 shares were traded at GHs 4.13 per share compared to GHs 4.14 previously. Much the same way, Ghana Oil witnessed deals for 1900 shares and closed at last deal price of GHs 2.93 per share as against Monday's GHs 2.94 per share. Offer price however, reverted to GHs 2.94 per ...

At the Nairobi Securities Exchange price drops clearly overwhelmed gains on Tuesday February 19, 2019, forcing the All share index down 0.43 points to 156.20 yet another day. Decline has been a daily dose for 4 days but this time, it was in spite of Ksh 0.10 per share gain by Safaricom and because there were 25 price drops and 18 gains. Besides, there more price drops above Ksh 1 per share than gains in that range. Bamburi Cement led the road down with Ksh 10 per share closing at Ksh 130 per share after touching Ksh 131 as against Ksh 140 per share on Monday. It was followed by a rather crowded above Ksh 1 per share group paced by British American Tobacco with Ksh 5 per share and East African Breweries down Ksh 4.25 per share. Others were Standard Chartered Bank with Ksh 4 per share decline; Nation Media, down Ksh 3 per share; Car & General which shed Ksh 2.35 per share; Sasini down Ksh 1.55 per share and Diamond Trust bank with Ksh 1.25 per share decline. From the same sector with...

After two days of relatively active price making at the Nigerian Stock Exchange, caution took over again on Tuesday February 19 2019 and the All share index rallied in the process. On Thursday last week caution had led to only 35 price changes most of them of low margins in Naira terms. Last Friday and Monday this week, the reverse was the case as 55 and 49 price changes were recorded respectively with fairly high margins. On Tuesday, February 19 the tempo slowed down once again leading to only 30 price changes: 16 up and 14 down  with relatively low margins especially amongst drops. Hence the All share index rose by 0.68% to 32,409.20 even amidst the cloud of uncertainty that enveloped the country following the postponement of the February 16 presidential elections. Top price gain was Presco's N2.4 per share increase to close at N75 per share compared to N72.6 previously as 25 deals for 0.170m shares were traded for N12.698m. Two other equities had gains above N1 per share: Zenith...

Tullow Oil Plc is one of those listed companies very rarely traded in Ghana's admittedly still young stock exchange but there seems to be good reason: It is an emerging blue chip. According to full year figures to December 2018 released this week, it has so much ahead of it that it will be foolhardy to offload any portion held. From the figures and information released as notes to the figures, Tullow Oil barely scratched the surface of its potentials in 2018 year, yet it ended with leap in profit before tax from 2017's $22m to $523m. This was essentially as impairment provision slumped from $539m in 2017 to just $18m; restructuring cost dived to $3m from $15m; while disposal profit came to $21m from 2017's $2m loss. Also positive was the fact that administration cost dropped by only 5.26% to $90m while total revenue generated grew by 7.9% to $1859m from $1723m  Hence, in 2018 year, Tullow oil recorded solid 28.4% profit margin compared to only 1.28% in 2017 year. It was not...

It looks certain that Kenya's Longhorn Publishers plc will end the current financial year well enough to blow some horn in celebration. According to half year figures to December 2018 released this week and signed by Group Chairman, Hon E T Nyammo, profit before tax is growing well ahead of turnover thanks to improved efficiency and market opportunities. Sales for the half year came to Ksh 697.565m, up 35.9% on Ksh 513.460m at the same time in 2017.  However, cost of sale grew by 41.9% to Ksh 271.041m from Ksh 191.059m resulting in lower 32.3% growth in gross profit to Ksh 426.524m from Ksh 322.401m. It was this stranglehold that good control over operating costs and new opportunities in regional markets reversed into higher growth in profit before tax. According to the figures, operating expenses grew by 24.4% to Ksh 336.339m from Ksh 270.310m leading to 73.8% leap in profit before tax to Ksh90.195m from Ksh 52.091m. The good news, says Hon Nyammo stemmed from improved efficiency,...

At the Ghana Stock Exchange, the Composite Index rallied once again on Monday February 18, 2019 after Friday's punctuation of daily slide. However, this occurred as only one price gain and two drops were recorded reflecting more, as usual, their respectively impact on GCI through relative market capitalisation. The lone price gainer was Total Petroleum Ghana in which just 200 shares were traded at GHs 4.3 per share, up GHs 0.55 per share compared to GHs 3.75 per share previously. The 2 price losers were Unilever Ghana and Ghana Commercial Bank down with different margins. GCB went down by GHs 0.04 per share also as 200 of its shares were exchanged at GHs 4.14 per share, compared to Friday's closing GHs 4.18. Much later though, bid price dropped further to GHs 4.1 per share and offer reverted to GHs 4.18 per share resulting in price mismatch and no more deals. Two equities, recorded price shifts while deals were being struck but closed firm at the end of the day. CAL Bank record...

After a rather phenomenal upwards shift throughout the best trading days of this year so far, the Nairobi stock market closed 3rd day down on Monday February 18, 2019. The All share index went down 0.66 points to close at 156.63 in the wake of 29 price drops and 15 gains. The margins of change were in gainers favour but alas, number of decline was overwhelming, and to make matters worse, Safaricom eased as well. Kakuzi ltd led the price losers with Ksh 10 per share decline to Ksh 320 per share compared to Ksh 310 previously. It was followed by Bamburi Cement with Ksh 7.75 per share gain; BOC Kenya up Ksh 6.50 per share; Diamond Trust Bank's Ksh 2 per share gain and Williamson Tea rise by Ksh 1.25 per share. From the opposite spectrum, the price losers were led by East African Breweries down Ksh 6.25 or 2.5% per share while recording deals for 229,400 shares worth Ksh 47m. The only other above Ksh 1 per share drop was Stanbic Holdings Ksh 2.50 per share decline. More shares were tra...

After rallying for 2 days in a row leading finally to 3.76% rise last week, the All share index crashed by 1.61% on Monday February 18, to start a new week after the postponement of presidential elections. The ASI closed at 32,190.07 from Friday's 32,715.20 as predominantly bearish outlook led to 37 price drops and 12 gains even though on both sides, margin of change was daring. The 12 gainers were led by Nestlé Nigeria, the market's highest priced equity, with N35 or 2.24% leap per share rising through the day first to N1589.6 before closing at N1600 per share compared to N1565 on Friday. This was while Nestle recorded 52 deals for 0.488m shares valued at N779.606m. From a distance, other major price gainers were Beta Glass up N6.7 or 9.27% per share in 18 deals for 0.262m shares worth N18.922m, Presco with N6.6 or 10% pee share as 24 deals for 0.399m shares worth N28.336m were sealed and CAP plc up N2.2 or 6.92% pee share in 12 deals for 5.178m shares worth N176.052m. On the ...

Once again, the Nigerian Stock Exchange witnessed showers of offloads on Friday February 15 2019, leading to new top traded volume since this year. Like on February 8, 2019 when the first shower occurred, there were 4 equities with deals for above 50m shares of which 2 were above 100m. Unlike then however, traded value was a lot less but both number of deals and volume were more. A total of 6177 deals were sealed on Friday for new high 808.646m shares valued at N6.486bn compared to previous day's 4417 deals for 423.378m shsres worth N3.738bn. It also compares favourably with the first shower of offloads on February 8 when 5752 deals were struck for exchange of 723.796m shares worth N12.309bn. Top offload was Diamond Bank's 141.633m shares traded in 113 deals worth N339.920m while closing N0.01 per share up. Next 117.654m shares of Transcorp were offloaded in 3rd highest 463 deals valued at N198.919m while adding N0.15 per share. The above 50m shares traded volumes were recorded...

In the week ended Friday February 15, 2019 the Nairobi Securities Exchange ended with 1.96% or 3.15 points decline in the All share index despite growing in 3 out of 5 trading days. The ASI ended the week at 157.29 on Friday as 23 price drops including that of Safaricom and 18 gains were recorded thus adding to 1.43 points decline on Thursday. Earlier, in the week, the ASI had either closed firm or rose rather marginally hence the 2 day sharp drops set the market back beyond previous week's closing. The pressure down on Friday did not come from higher margin of decline but from higher number of price drops and Safaricom's Ksh 0.35 per share decline. Top price drop was East African Breweries Ksh 9.50 per share as it closed at Ksh 210.25 per share after hitting day high of Ksh 222.75 and low of Ksh 210 compared to Ksh 219.75 per share previously. In effect, EAB declined 4.43% in a week its 1.5m shares were exchanged for Ksh 338m with Friday alone accounting for 1.135m shares. Oth...

The cookies did not crumble for Kenya's British American Tobacco plc in the financial year ended December 2018 mainly because it paid less in finance charges, grew net revenue after duties faster and had some good hands on over operating costs. The most impactful was the lone drop in cost head within the year: Finance costs. It went down by 21.5% to Ksh 388m from 2017's Ksh 494m to make BAT 's profit before tax grow by 20.8% to Ksh 5881m from Ksh 4867m. Before it, operating profit had grown by lower 16.0% to Ksh 6215m from Ksh 5361m principally on the back of 11.1% gross profit growth realised from only 5.88% increase in gross revenue padded further padded by only 9.15% growth in operating costs. BAT gross revenue had grown to Ksh 36,496m from Ksh 34,468m while in view of less than proportionate increase in duties paid, gross profit came to Ksh 20,700m from 2017's Ksh 18,674m. In the end, operating profit rose by a higher % because operating cost grew by a % less than t...

For a long while it looked like there was going to be continuous search for a peak by the All share index at the Nairobi Securities Exchange but that is now history because on Thursday February 14 2019 it finally closed down. Twice while searching for a cap, the ASi had conceded only firm closing and ended up every other day. However, on Thursday, it went down by 1.43 points to 158.85 on a day clearly dominated by 30 price drops including top weight Safaricom and only 10 gains. Besides, amongst the gainers, it turned out only lead gainer, Bank of Kigali gathered above Ksh 1 per share gain. As it found and closed at Ksh 30.85 per share, BK rose Ksh 2.80 per share compared to Wednesday's Ksh 28.05 per share. On the other hand, top price drop was Williamson Tea's Ksh 12 per share to close at Ksh 148 as against Ksh160 per share previously. Other major price drops were Ksh 1.50 per share decline by both Diamond Trust Bank and and Stanbic Holdings; and Ksh 1 per share shed by British...

After starting the week with some promise by the Ghana Composite Index closing up at 2491.26, it has been 3 follow up days of easing. On Thursday, the GCI dropped to 2485.53 from Wednesday's 2487.80 which was down from Tuesday's 2488.65  There were 2 gains and 1 price drop that impacted on Market capitalisation to lead to the GCI decline. The lone price loser was Ecobank Transnational Incorporated down GHs 0.01 per share as it closed at last deal price of GHs 0.15 per share as against GHs 0.16 per share on Wednesday  In all, day high 66,100 of its shares were traded but at the day's end, no more deals could be struck because offer price rallied to GHs 0.18 per share while bid stayed firm at the new price. The 2 price gains were GHs 0.02 per share each. Enterprise Group ltd's 7600 shares were exchanged with last deal at GHs 2.15 per share, as against GHs 2.16 previously. However, there was further drop in bid price to N2.1 per share thus mismatching the offer price. Soce...

After punctuating daily upwards movement since this month on Wednesday with a decline, the Nigerian Stock Exchange was back on track again on Thursday, February 14, 2019. The All share index had dropped by 0.15% on Wednesday after closing up daily since the start of the month then by Thursday it reversed to settle for 0.12% growth to 32,453.68. This was as Unilever Nigeria again paced price gainers like it did on Wednesday and in a solo of sorts, Nigerian Breweries led price losers. There were 22 price gainers led by Unilever up N3 or 6.82% per share ( N1 short of Wednesday's gain) as it found and closed at N47 per shares compared to N44 previously. Unilever ended the day with 40 deals for 1.319m shares worth N61.368m compared to 86 deals for 1.140m shares valued at N47.760m the previous day. Dangote Cement followed with N1 or 0.53% per share rise in 69 deals for 0.187m shares worth N35.869m. Nigerian Breweries, on the other hand, led 13 price losers with N1 or 1.23% per share decl...

After closing up daily since this month, the Nigerian Stock Exchange closed down finally on Wednesday February 13, 2019. The All share index closed at 32,413.92, down 0.15% from Tuesday's 32,462.31 as 22 price drops and 19 gains were recorded. The  decline that applied the most pressure apparently was Seplat Petroleum's 20 or 3.33% per share drop to N580 per share from Tuesday's N600. Incidentally, Seplat Petroleum was the 2nd highest price gainer on Tuesday with N34.5 per share leap behind Nestlé Nigeria's N90 per share. This time, Seplat witnessed 46 deals for 0.125m shares worth N72.673m. It was trailed by Forte Oil down N1.7 or 5.72% per share in 42 deals involving 0.269m shares worth N7.674m, PZ Cussons which shed N1.25 per share in 54 deals for 0.760m shares valued at N9.248m and GTB down N1 per share amidst 262 deals for 13.681m shares worth N522.753m. On the other hand, price gainers were paced  by Unilever Nigeria up N4 or 10% per share as it closed...

Once again the All share index  at Nairobi Securities Exchange closed firm on Wednesday February 13, 2019 but, as usual , not because price changes did not occur The ASI closed the day firm at 160.28 without a change just like it did last Friday when it ended without any change at 160.44. Since Friday it had first risen to 160.53 on Monday before easing to 160.28 on Tuesday, where it now stood firm on Wednesday. On Friday it closed firm despite 19 price gains and 15 drops and on Wednesday there were' 24 price drops and 15 gains. Of the gainers Britain American Tobacco's Ksh 0.55 per share increase was more dramatic. BAT found and closed at Ksh 638 per share as against Ksh 583 previously while recording deals for 328,500 shares worth Ksh 209m. It was followed from quite a distance by Williamson Tea up Ksh 3.25 per share; Stanbic Holdings with Ksh 1.50 per share gain and Car & General up Ksh 1 per share. On the other hand, Jubilee Holdings declined by Ksh 13.50 pe...

It was a case of 2 vs 1 at Ghana Stock Exchange Wednesday February 13, 2019 as 2 price gains and one drop were recorded. The tussle was over which way for the Composite index; a tussle which decline won with the GCI ending at 2487.50 from Tuesday's 2488.65. The winning drop was recorded by Republic Bank of Ghana down GHs 0.02 per share to close at last deal  was struck at GHs 0.6 per share, the opening price. A total of 14,500 shares of Republican Bank were traded  offer price rose further to GHs 0.75 per share and bid stayed firm at  GHs 0.6 per share. The 2 price gainers were Enterprise Group Ltd and Total Petroleum Ghana each closing GHs 0.03 per share up. While recording exchange of 25,000 shares, Total had recorded the last deal at GHs 3.27 per share compared to GHs 3.26 previously but went on to close at 3.29 per share. Then the possibility of more deals was cancelled as offer price rose further to GHs 3.75 per share. On the other hand, Enterprise Ghana witnessed ...

For the first time in a long while, on Tuesday February 12, 2019, at the Ghana Stock Exchange,  one of the listed companies, HORDS Ltd, recorded first trade of its shares although while closing firm. In all 2300 of its shares were traded at year long firm price of GHs 0.1 per share and from the fact of closing on offer, there is room for more trade. The trade, though small even by the day's average, added to bring total traded volume for Tuesday to 121,110 shares compared to far more hefty 355,600 shares on Monday. Top trade was in Enterprise Ghana Ltd and Republic Bank of Ghana. Pacing traded volume was Enterprise Ghana in which 51,400 shares were exchanged while closing at last deal price of GHs 2.1 per .share. Close on its heels was Republic Bank with deals for the exchange of 50,000 of its shares. It closed too at last deal price of GHs 0.62 per share, down GHs 0.03 per share from Monday's GHs 0.62 per share. Much later though, bid price closed at GHs 0.6 per share. The Rep...

Investor interest in the Nigerian Stock Exchange has been on relatively high side in recent days with most trading days recording above 3000 deals. On Tuesday February 12, 2019 new high was hit in this regard as 7052 deals were struck for 580.413m shares worth N8.032bn compared to 5229 deals for 551.585m shares valued at N5.649bn. Zenith Bank paced number of deals with 754 deals sealed for 2nd highest 63.177m shares worth N1.584bn while closing up N0.05 per share. It was followed not unexpectedly by Sterling Bank in which just 5.549m shares in 544 deals worth N13.831m and UBA with 426 deals involving 39.724m shares worth N319.564m while closing down N0.05 per share. Top traded volume however, was 125.817m shares of Diamond Bank offloaded in 186 deals valued at N304.389m while closing firm in the main. Equally remarkable on Tuesday was the surge of the All share index up by 2.14% to 32,462.31 from Monday's 31,781.87 as bullish perceptions led to 37 price gains and only 14 ...

Caution was the word at Nairobi Securities Exchange on Tuesday February 12, 2019 as most price changes were below Ksh 1 per share. However, this did lead to punctuation of the market's near bullish run daily for weeks without break. The All share index declined marginally to 160.28 compared to 160.53 on Monday. There were 26 price drops and 11 gains but only 3 of the drops and 1 out of the 11 gains ended above Ksh 1 per share. The lead gain was Ksh 1.75 or 2.60% per share by Nation Media to close at Ksh 69 per share compared to Ksh 67.25 on Monday. This was the only one above Ksh 1 per share although in % terms top gain was 6.61% by Sanlam representing Ksh 0.55 per share increase to Ksh 25.50 from Ksh 23.45 per share. However Safaricom did top up with Ksh 0.10 or 0.37% per share thus reducing the ASI decline rate despite the overwhelming number of drops. The drops were paced by BOC Kenya with Ksh 5.50 or 6.56% per share decline to Ksh 74.50 per share from Monday's...

It appears the Nigerian economy in 2018 proved all forecasts wrong, according to latest Gross Domestic Product figures released by the National Bureau of statistics released this week. According to the NBS, the GDP grew at new high of 2.38% in the 4th quarter of 2018, thus driving full year growth to 1.93% year on year. In quarter 3, real growth recorded was 1.81% and this encouraged more optimistic forecasters to expect around 2% growth come full year. On the other hand, given the below single digit real growths in the first of the year, more pessimistic forecasters (including Henates) expected real growth of around 1.5% for the year. Thus, growing by 1.93% meant that it surpassed the projection of the more pessimistic forecasters but fell short of more bullish expectations. The growth was driven by non oil sector, according to the NBS. The oil sector slowed down as  production averaged 1.91mbps in compared to 1.95mbpd average previously Hence, the sectors contribution to ...

After closing firm like a rock on Friday February 8, 2019 for the first time since Henates started monitoring the market, the All share index resumed upwards on Monday, February 11, 2019 but an inch, so to speak. It rose to 160.53 from 160.44 amidst 23 price gains and 14 drops with more major gainers than losers. Top price gainer was Williamson Tea. It gained Ksh 6.25 per share or 4.46% to close at Ksh 146.25 compared to Ksh 140 per share previously. Next to it was East African Breweries, up Ksh 2.25 per share as it closed at Ksh 222.25 as against Ksh 220 per share on Friday. This came to 1.02% gain. Other major price gainers were Nation Media with N2 or 3.07% top up to Ksh 67.25 per share from Friday's Ksh 65.25; Sasini ltd with Ksh 1.60 or 8.40% gain per share as it closed at Ksh 20.65 per share compared to Ksh 19.05 previously and Stanbic Holdings up Ksh 1.25 or 1.30% per share to close at Ksh 92 per share from Ksh 90.75 on Friday. On the price losers side, the pace was set by B...

The Composite Index at the Ghana Stock Exchange closed up 5.7 points to 2491.26 from 2485.56 on Friday. This was as 2 price changes recorded ended up. Enterprise Ghana Ltd rose by GHs 0.1 per share to close at the last deal price of GHs 2.1 per share compared to GHs 2 previously. In all 50,000 shares of EGL were traded but offer price closed at the same GHs 2.1 per share without any more matching bid. On the other hand, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated gained GHs 0.01 per share closing at GHs 0.16 per share compared to GHs 0.15 previously. This was as 33,600 of its shares were traded with last deal being at the closing price per share. However, bid reverted to the old price at the end of the day with no more deals since offer remained firm on the closing price. Traded volume picked up well when compared to Friday level. Total volume traded was 355,600 shares, compared to 125,499 on Friday. Top of the bill was CAL Bank's 200,900 units exchanged at firm price of GHs 0.89 per share ...