bankelele

• Old Mutual, Credit Reference, Insular TZ

  Posted: July 31, 2008, 6:52 pm by bankelele

  Old mutual loosens up: Old Mutual , the pioneer of unit trusts in Kenya has made some radical changes to it contractual savings plans to cope with a changing market place with many unit trust choices from a competitive fund and insurance industry. Changes include;
  - Plans will no longer lapse if premium payments are stopped. E.g. when people get retrenched
  - Savings (in a lapsed plan) will remain invested until maturity or can be paid out early
  - If your saving plan was terminated without a payout, consider it reinstated!
  
  Credit reference rules: Former finance minister Amos Kimunya was able to gazette the rules for operations of credit reference bureaus in Kenya before he left office. Provisions include;
  - Bureaus will be licensed by the central bank
  - Signup costs are 100,000 shillings ($1,500), a bank guarantee for 1 million and another fee of 100,000 per year
  - Bureaus may share info only with a customers’ permission (which happens when you sign for a loan)
  - They may only share information for business decision making (evaluate credit prospects)
  - Bureaus must keep track of all information they share
  - Customers are entitled to one free report a year, and within 30 days of a negative referral
  - if a customer complains, and bureau not able to complete an investigation of disputed information within a month, information will be deleted as request by customer
  
  Undugu at work: More Tanzanian IPO news with the upcoming sale of 21% of the Tanzanian Government shares of the National Microfinance Bank (NMB) to raise 63 billion shillings ($54 million) and later to be listed on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange. But the offer is open to to individual Tanzanians and companies that are whole owned by Tanzanians - unlike Stanbic (Ug) and Safaricom (Ke) (which Tanzanians were also barred from subscribing to)

• Kutwa Tuesday: Equity Bank & Tiomin

  Posted: July 29, 2008, 10:28 pm by bankelele

  recently in the media
  
  Equity Bank returned to super nova status with almost 200% growth in June 2008, compared to a year before. From a pedestrian growth (at their rate) in Q1 of 8% for deposits and asset, they rebounded to 23% gains in both during the second quarter of 2008 after the Kenyan peace deal and their heavy involvement in the Safaricom IPO - redeploying funds from government securities.
  
  March to June income grew faster for the first time in three quarters, after being evenly matched in December and March. And at 70 billion ($1.05 billion) in assets, will be 3rd largest bank in Kenya by year end (how long before they overhaul Barclays and KCB?). Also how much of a boost did NBK get from Safaricom and Barclays lose by staying on the sidelines? - Thank Kofi or Safaricom?
  
  Alternative investments
  in my mailbox
  - The Barclays Bond is looking to be a good investment for retail crowd – a Kshs. 100,000 ($1,500) investment will deliver 11.5 %% for the next 7 years. Third tranche of bond coming soon
  - Following the Stanbic IPO, Uganda has a rights issue from New Vision
  - Tanzania has Nicol - the National Investments Company Ltd newly listed on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange
  
  Biz briefs
  - The Jinchuan Group Limited China will invest $25 million into the stalled Tiomin Kenya Limited project (purchasing 70%)
  - From Indian Ocean Newsletter: Transcentury eyes a bid for Uchumi Supermarkets
  - Rate hikes - four mid-size banks have hiked their base lending rates above 15%
  - Diamond Trust Bank answers some common shareholder FAQ on deceased, lost, or dormant shares
  - Stanbic Uganda leads the way communicating with its (31,000) shareholders – from sending annual reports by e-mail to communicating about divided payment calendars and difficulties, while inviting shareholders who have not received theirs to contact the Bank. Any Kenyan companies doing that yet?
  - Vodafone to buy back under valued shares: what about Safaricom?
  
  From the blogs
  - Archer finds a faux/fan site for embattled Kenyan Transport Minister - Chirau Mwakwere
  - How good is Safaricom’s bambanet service? (a review)
  - A marketer’s perspective on the Coke vs. Alvaro brew war
  
  Opportunities
  - Nominate a company as one of Kenya’s Top 100 (D/L 31/7)
  
  Internships/scholarships
  - science & technology scholarships to study in Algeria (10) and Morocco (15) for recent high school graduates.
  - Graduate trainees at the Kenya Revenue Authority. Apply by 22/8 using snail mail to the senior deputy commissioner HR 48240-00100 Nairobi
  - British Council - Africa knowledge transfer partnerships for (2) graduates to work at MEA Limited and Booth Extrusions d/l 8/8
  
  Jobs
  - Marketing manager at East African Breweries
  - Google Africa: Geographic Specialist (Temporary), HR and Communications Associate, Localisation Project Manager – Africa, Strategic Partner Development (SPD), Local Markets, Technical Support Associate, Google Applications (all Nairobi)
  - I & M Bank: Cashiers/Tellers for Nairobi, Mombasa & Kisumu, Relationship Manager/Officer
  - Jetlink Airlines: technicians, engineers, telesales officers, reservations officer. Apply to hr@jetlink.co.ke by 8/8
  - KCB: Contact center services manager, quality assurance & business processing manager. Apply to recruitment@kcb.co.ke by 8/8
  - Neptune software: Lead developer, associates consultant (2), consultants (2), sales manager, and client relationship manager. Apply to Kenya@neptunesoftwareplc.om
  - Executive director Media council of Kenya (D/L 8/8)
  - Paynet: Sales accounts manages, system support analyst. Apply to careers@paynet.co.ke 1/8
  - USIU: Network administrator, internal auditor, purchasing coordinator, jobs@usiu.co.ke 8/8

• Urban Inflation Index

  Posted: July 25, 2008, 10:31 pm by bankelele

  a week early, with some changes
  
  Tracking prices of some urban commodities compared to six months ago and a year ago
  
  Fuel: Litre of petrol fuel (at local petrol station) is Kshs. 101.50 ~ $1.50 (up 15.3% in ½ year)
  6 months ago: Kshs. 87.99, Year ago: Kshs. 80.79
  despite record world oil prices, government joint tender system has cushioned some impact on the economy – even oil companies are not celebrating
  
  Staple food: Maize flour (2 kg. Unga pack at Uchumi) is Kshs. 73 (up 40% in ½ year)
  6 months ago Kshs. 52, Year ago Kshs. 50
  farming woes continue, poor crop expected this year
  
  Other food item: Sugar (2 kg. Mumias pack) at Uchumi is Kshs. 145 (down 3% in ½ year)
  6 months ago: Kshs. 150, Year ago Kshs. 150 Kshs
  new minister trying to clean up notorious sector
  
  Entertainment: Bottle of Tusker beer (at local pub) is Kshs. 130 (up 8.3% in ½ year)
  6 months ago; Kshs. 120, Year ago: Kshs. 100
  agricultural input costs rising, but post-budget sin tax pushed prices up. You need this to network in Kenya, or switch to Alvaro?
  
  Communications: mobile phone promotion
  This month Safaricom has Ongea tariff which has phone calls priced Kshs. 10 per minute all day, while Celtel has a Kshs. 3 per minute tariff (and with a conditional ‘free’ call package thrown in). Safaricom is also promoting broadband hotspots for the entire Nairobi and Mombasa areas.
  - Six months go: Safaricom had extended the hours for Kshs. 8 calls on Saasa tariff, while Celtel had Kshs. 4 per minute calls to 3 preferred numbers
  - A year ago Safaricom had Super Tariffic tariff which has calls 38% cheaper and SMS 30% cheaper than the previous tariff
  mobile communications one of the few things that are getting cheaper
  
  Exchange rate
  1 US$ equals Kshs. 67.4 (shilling has appreciated 4.7% in ½ year)
  6 months ago: 70.7, Year ago: 66.5
  strong , but now sliding, shilling has cushioned some impact of high oil prices, but exporters are complaining
  
  Electricity cost
  New addition
  My electricity bill in July 2008 is Kshs. 1,860
  A year ago was Kshs. 995
  Consumption was the same, the culprit was fuel costs adjustment which added Kshs. 820(649c/kwh) to my bill compared to Kshs. 200 shillings (170c/kwh) a year ago as KPLC recently increased the electricity charges which could have some adverse effect on the economy later in the year – already big manufacturers are investing in power plants and alternative generation sources.

• Foreign Correspondents in Africa

  Posted: July 24, 2008, 8:32 pm by bankelele

  
  - "We went into the heart of Africa self-invited — therein lies our fault." (Henry Morton Stanley)
  - How to write about Africa (Binyavanga Wainaina
  
  The 2008 Kwani Lit Fest kicked off on Wednesday night with a talk on How foreign correspondents have formed the literary image of Africa with a panel consisting of Steve Bloomfield (The Independent/Monocle), Binyavanga Wainana (Kwani), Jonathan Ledgard (The Economist) and Mary Anne Fitzgerald (London Times)
  
  excerpts
  
  For
  - Foreign correspondents write for a foreign audience
  - African newspapers who can (Daily Nation, Mail & Guardian) don’t use local correspondents. They pay Reuters to cover other African countries yet local expertise is plenty
  - While it’s not appropriate for a news organization to have one person cover the entire continent called Africa, there is only room for two stories a week from Africa in many organizations. And they are often about misery
  - Kenyans are as ignorant about Somalia as Americans
  - Africa is still the place where young journalists are sent to the vast continent to cut their teeth in journalism.. It is where many careers are made
  - African countries should not be treated with kid gloves, and foreign reporters should not shy away from writing about the ills of Africa in the interest of positivity or pan Africanism. E.g. Kenya went though a violent period this year and it was a much more advanced society than Yugoslavia a decade ago
  
  Against
  - Many Africans grew up with images of the rest of Africa shaped by foreign correspondents and authors. This images are not necessarily the true Africa
  - Foreign correspondents inhabit and write about a world alien to most Africans – so how can they write about Africa? They are not encouraged to deviate from the formula
  - East Africa was romanticized the pioneers of foreign journalists and Hollywood. The history of west Africa which was more complex (slavery, trade) and is still not widely understood or covered by the foreign press
  - Unfortunately foreign correspondents sometimes become the story e.g. I couldn’t leave my house because of the genocide outside.
  
  Even
  
  
  
  On Keith Richburg and his controversial book Out of Africa: For black American correspondents there are advantages (sense of community) and disadvantages (danger as you may resemble one warring tribe) to working in Africa.

• Kutwa Tuesday: Reverse Safaricom IPO and other such tales

  Posted: July 22, 2008, 5:00 am by bankelele

  Safaricom needs a reverse stock split to get rid of their unhappy shareholders.
  - Anyone who has less than 10,000 shares by December should be paid off by the Government or Vodafone at the IPO price of 5 shillings or market price, whichever is lower at the end of the year. Investors will not sell their shares at a loss and the least they can do is recoup their money from this mess (excluding their loans)
  
  Kenol tweak: 36.67 million shares change hands worth 3.3 billion shillings on Friday. Meanwhile kenol/kobil stations have the most expensive fuel in Nairobi. Diesel has hit 101 shilling per litre ($1.55), while petrol is at 108, that’s about 6 shillings more than my station of choice.
  
  Cola tweak: After enduring a difficult first quarter, coca cola is having a bit of a tumble in the second quarter due to to EABL’s Alvaro – at least in urban areas where it has become the non-alcoholic drink of choice for many previous soda (and juice) sippers. Coke has unleashed another multi-million shilling giveaway promotion to win back customers
  
  
  alvaro cases at Nakumatt
  
  Celtel tweak - More celtel confusion; The ink is not dry on posters for their newest promotion and already the terms have changed (for the better) [for customers to get free calls will now cost 65/= ($1) a day down from 99/=].
  
  August will be a significant month for the mobile sector as Celtel switches to the Zain brand, Safaricom release their first quarterly results after the IPO, and Econet should finaly/hopefuly roll out operations.
  
  Media tweaks: All journalists and correspondents practicing in Kenya must be registered with the Media Council of Kenya – and to do so they must each pay Kshs. 2,000, while foreign journalists will have to pay 10,000 ($154) per year [those on short term assignment of up to 3 months pay 5,000]. Amounts due by 30/9. Television radio and newspaper organizations also have to pay a quarterly fee depending on the number of media outlets
  
  - Standard tweaks Two weeks after the launch of the new Standard, their strap line of the standard has changed;
  
  
  new standard at launch
  
  
  standard yesterday
  
  Sunday Nation tweaks now has the best of best of Whispers - favorite columns of the late humorist Wahome Mutahi and some articles of the New York Times
  
  From the blogs
  - Pointer for Access Kenya shareholders to read
  - There are only 60 lions (adult) in the Mara – but that's an improvement by 50% from year 2001
  - How bad are things for those who took IPO loans for Safaricom? Ssembonge shows that small investors are hurting more than bigger borrowers.
  - Cautionary tales on life insurance from Tujuane
  - Peer pressure: tales of GDP growth of rates of 8% in Ghana and
  21% in Angola
  - Link to a puff piece in memory of the former finance minister
  -US Airways to remove all in-seat movies from their planes, while Emirates is targeting to remove all paper (in-flight magazines and publications) to save a ton of weight on the new A380 (to compensate for a ton of water for showers in first class (from airliners.net)
  
  Opportunities
  
  African Banker Awards. deadline for nominations if 31 July in the following categories: African Banker of the Year, African Bank of the Year, African Investment Bank, Best Development Bank in Africa, African Microfinance Bank, Best Issuing House, Most Innovative Bank, Deal of the Year, Socially Responsible Bank of the Year, Best Global Bank in Africa, Award for Gender Sensitivity
  
  Jobs
  from the daily papers last week
  - Aircraft Leasing Services: captains, first officers for Embarer 135. als@als.co.ke
  - HR director at Housing Finance. Apply through deloitte esd@deloitte.co.ke by 1/8
  - MD of KCB Rwanda. Apply to recruitement@kcb.co.ke by 8/8
  - KPMG Uganda: Internal Audit Services manager, Senior Internal Auditor, Internal auditor, forensic auditors. Apply to talentrecruit@kpmg.co.ke by 1/8
  - Corporate affairs manager of Nation media group.
  - Independent sales agents at Standard Chartered Bank. Apply to Susan.Ombati@ke.standardchartered.com by 31/7
  
  Others vacancies at Kencall, Kenya Airways, and Family Bank [Credit officer, Procurement Officer, Works Officer, Accountant, Accounts Assistant, Administrative Assistant, Assistant Manager, Audit Manager, Branch Accountant]
  
  Beach plots too good to be true? Lots of land available in Mombasa for real estate investment from Datkit agents including 3 acres creek in new Nyali with 120m sea frontage, 1.3 acres over looking Nyali golf club, 5 acre lots in kikambala, 14 acre beach plot next to Neptune beach, 25 acre beach plot next to kaskazi hotel with 168m beach front, 1/3 acre residential plots in shanzu (2nd row from beach)

• Safaricom 5s

  Posted: July 18, 2008, 4:16 pm by bankelele

  Safaricom IPO Day 30: Deals 1,297, Turnover Kshs. 257.9 million [$3.9 million] Average 6.23 High 6.60 Low 5.95 Last 6.20 Volume 41.4 million shares. Feels and smells like a bear raid. [Commentary and data from Rich.co.ke - NSE data vendor, with Free real time prices between 0930 -1500]
  
  - What is the role of Morgan Stanley in the price of Safaricom?
  
  - How about a reverse stock split of Safaricom to weed out 2/3 of the unhappy 800,000 shareholders and get a manageable share register?
  
  End of day update - Turnover Kshs. 450.4 million ($6.92 m), Average 6.20 High 6.60 Low 5.95 Volume 72.5 million shares. Rich.co.ke commentary; A very weak session. The article in Business Daily, a large trade on the prompt board at 6.20 all pushed this market over. It was all so fortuitous and coincidental to be quite remarkable. The price is undervalued here by a wide margin.

• SMS Solutions

  Posted: July 18, 2008, 3:14 pm by bankelele

  CDSC: The Central Depository System Corporation (CDSC) has now rolled out their SMS alert service to inform investors of trades within their accounts, and hopefully alert investors of unauthorized trades by rogue brokers
  
  Investors can check their CDSC (amazingly, they still have no website as yet) balances by registering through either (i) in person at 10th floor Nation Center or (ii) sending an SMS formatted “REG*CDS A/C No.*ID No.” to 2372 - to receive an alias and Pin No.
  
  Investors can then use the service to access (i) portfolio balance, (ii) view a mini statement (of last 5 trades) (iii) receive alerts of each trade [by sending an “alerts on” message to 2372] or (iv) change PIN. (each CDSC SMS costs 10 shillings - ~$0.15) [more from helpdesk@cdsckenya]
  
  NCWSC: The Nairobi City Water & Sewerage Company have followed in the footsteps of the KPLC to introduce an SMS facility where customers can check their water bills by phone SMS. Simply send a message with account number to the number 5571, and receipt of a balance message costs 15 shillings. While The company is not as aggressive in cutting off subscribers with arrears as KPLC, their bills through the regular mail are rare and infrequenet, and so SMS is a good way to know your balance and due date.
  
  For electricity bills from KPLC, queries cost 10 shillings by SMS, but are free by e-mail.
  
  Mobile XL: report on a value addition SMS and chat application.
  
  A couple of Banks offer SMS banking facilities, but the value addition is questionable given the cost [30/= per query]. Online banking for corporations seems a more viable option
  
  And finally, most dear to every investor now is the use of SMS to trace Safaricom IPO refunds and allocation:
  - For IPO allocation; message is “CDS.no#ID.no#A” to 4009
  - For refund cheque location; message is “CDS.no#ID.no#R” to 4009
  each SMS costs 15/=
  - if no message, chances are your (rogue) broker did not buy shares for you

• Standard Group 2008 AGM

  Posted: July 17, 2008, 4:11 pm by bankelele

  The 90th annual general meeting of The Standard Newspapers Group was held at the Panari Hotel on July 16.
  
  The number two media house in Kenya is in the middle of a three year turnaround plan that had among others, seen it recapitalized, appoint new directors and executives, move to main investment board of the NSE, restructure its balance sheet (move from a reserves deficit to surplus), make capital investments amounting to Kshs. 1.2 billion (new printing press, new headquarters building next to the Panari, among others), and resume paying dividends.
  
  Circulation is up 40% in a year (at the expense of competitors’), the deputy chairman said as he laid out plans, but without divulging details at their ‘main competitor’ (Nation) likely would learn of them through some mutual shareholders.
  
  Format is Questions; answers from the directors mainly Chairman Robin Sewel, Deputy Chairman Paul Melly and MD Pau Wanyagah
  
  Right off the Chairman apologized for some omissions from the annual reports and agenda that shareholders had been sent – which were a list of top shareholders and an agenda item to approve payment of dividends to (8%) preference shareholders Shareholder questions were the order of the day, and some of the subjects covered included;
  
  Capital investments
  - the 1.2 billion not reflected in the account; these are multi-year investments spread out over several years
  - is the new plant and headquarters on land owned by the mzee?; the land is owned by the standard group
  - is the printing press new – as this is the third press, and others may have been used and did not last long?
  
  Dividends
  - when will dividend declared in April be paid? It will be paid august 15
  - why delay in dividend declared and can it be paid with interest ? law allows a certain period for companies to pay dividends, and no interest will be paid
  - why interim, but no final dividend? Company want to resume a consistent dividend paying practice, and not over-do it in one year and not be able to in subsequent years
  Fund-raising
  - company has raised 1.2 billion – from where? From internally generated cash (362m in ‘07) and borrowings
  - why loans from shareholders – trade world and miller? These are at market rates
  - why not raise funds from shareholders – so that the gains will be from dividends not interest payments? Tax gains from borrowing
  
  Content
  - why does KTN not appear to support/relate to standard and vice versa? Each has to differentiate their own content and not cannibalize each other
  - plans to promote local content and programming which are very popular in rural areas and which one competitor (citizen?) is doing very well? Plans are underway and they recognize that market
  - plans to go to into radio? They have been trying for some time, but CCK says no signals are available, so they are look at other entry means (purchase existing?)
  - online strategy - website only updated once a day; that will change, as they will soon switch to 24-hour site updates
  - because of infrequent updates, website not well known or searched for: plans are underway to change this new website?
  
  Accounts presentation
  - for how long will KTN be in receivership? The KTN company is dormant and all their financials are processed through Baraza
  - how long will preference shares be on the books? The amount is so small they have not thought it necessary t go through the expense of wiping them away, but could easily pay them off
  - On the previous minutes (2007 meeting) one shareholder asked if two issues from last year were resolved, namely: the adoption of a company ESOP and buyout of remaining minority shareholders in Baraza Limited – but the chairman said they had still not been finalized
  company will in future include
  - scan signatures of auditors and directors
  - highlight CSR activities undertaken
  - complete CV’s of board members
  - directions to meeting venue and contact
  - information about company registrar
  
  HR
  - did some directors resign or were sacked? Their contracts ended and board felt it was prudent to replace
  - how will they ensure capacity to run new press is retained? Staff are being trained in Germany and their terms will be reviewed to retain them in the company
  
  Others
  - plans to get on GTV? Will switch from analog to digital broadcasting soon
  - plans to go regional (East Africa)? Plans are underway, but no details yet
  - why are magazine cheaper to order individually than it is using publisher distribution service (PDS) who should enjoy economies of scale? That is magazine industry norm where individual subscribers get better terms if they make long term commitment
  
  Goodies: tote bag, with two shirts (polo and tee), and a newspaper of the day. A buffet lunch, which I thought, would be a messy affair turned out to be ok as only about 200 of the company’s’ 3,000 shareholders were there to pile their plates at the Panari restaurant
  
  
  full plates, but owners already gone back to re-fill

• Stockbroker mirrors Society

  Posted: July 14, 2008, 5:02 pm by bankelele

  I have just finished the morning at the stockbrokers, processing my KCB rights:
  
  First thing I did when I got there, was to talk to the askari (guard) Why – rule of queues - there was a queue outside the office, which many people join blindly, and waste an hour. The queue was for Safaricom refunds – and if you’re doing KCB or other transactions, you get admission upstairs.
  
  At the entrance, there’s a ticker paper machine - and you get a number which will be called upstairs for you to get served. So at 9:10, I got number 436 and proceeded upstairs to sit with about fifty other shareholders all waiting for service.
  
  There were five desks where customers were being served, and as each broker representative finished with a customer he/she pings a message, which called up the next sequential on an electronic notice board e.g. 437 go to counter 6, then 438 to counter 3.
  
  It’s a first come first served system, easy to understand to anyone trading shares, is fair, and works. The alternative would be for us to form a long queue, perhaps all the way outside the building, but this one allows investors to sit and wait for their turn. Over the next hour, this went on well. The queues are slow, but what else can be done?
  
  I was sitting there, reading the newspapers, when I notice one of the counters. The officer there did not ping for the next customer. He served whoever slid into the chair in front of him. He served an old man, with an assistant (probably grand daughter), then an old woman who just walked in. Then the person who was in the seat next to mine, went and got served, followed by the person who took the seat next to me.
  
  The brokers were totally ignoring the numbering system that had kept us in an orderly state for the last hour. By 10:20 when I get served, and was able to apply for my share rights (taking two minutes), he had, by my count served seven people who did not present numbers.
  
  I wanted to lean over and ask him why she is violating the system he is paid to serve, but didn’t and I left as soon as I was done. There are so many questions I should have asked him;
  - Am I at fault for focusing on him, when 4 other counters worked well for the stockbroker serving dozens of investors?
  - Am I at fault for not asking him why he did not follow procedures? Like many other Nairobians, simply bury my head in the sand and ignore the wrongs around me
  - Am I a fool for not taking advantage of the opportunity, and ignoring my number (hierarchy/position in the society)?
  - Is his boss at fault or his colleagues for not noticing this? I saw some of them shoo away customers, asking them to wait their turn
  - Are the customers at fault for taking advantage? What he was doing is obvious to many observers in the room, and some customers change sits to be near his desk, ready to leap into the visitors chair as soon as it is vacant. Enjoy the ride is the mantra of our matatu culture. In our culture of poor customer service, employees are taught to assist all customers, and that only those customers who are brash or loud get served, while the meek and quiet will spend the whole day there. But this institution has set up an (expensive) system for orderly customer service, to serve them better (unlike others), but which was all being undermined by one of the staff
  - Or is this all a misunderstanding - and was his ping machine/signal broken or defective - [like so many facilities in our society - traffic light, road signs - leading to an inability to communicate the rules?]
  
  As I walk out and read notices on the walls, the queue is now longer than before with more patient investors even standing on the staircase.

• Safaricom 7s

  Posted: July 10, 2008, 3:49 pm by bankelele

  Safaricom IPO Day 24: Commentary - Strong market rebound. Someone is buying everything up below 7.00. We have based out. Deals 3,070 Turnover 305.67 million [$4.63 m] Average 6.94 High 7.00 Low 6.80 Last7.00 Volume 44 million shares Commentary and data from Rich.co.ke - NSE data vendor [with Free real time prices between 0930 -1500]
  
  End of day : 64.65 million Shares, closing at 6.95 (up 2.2%)
  
  Celtel Kenya gets a new CEO (7th?) [Rene Meza from Paraguay] as Celtel wins an award for best telecoms operator in Africa at the 2008 Business in Africa Awards held in London.
  
  Rift Valley Railways gets two new shareholders [Prime Fuels and Mirambo Holdings]. Meanwhile both Kenya and Uganda governments are getting impatient and workers went on strike [they have now just got their June salaries]
  
  The Vision 2030 Delivery Secretariat is seeking - director general, directors [social & political pillars, enablers & macro, economic pillar, and Strategy, marketing, empowerment and communication] chief officer [monitoring and evaluation] officer [project finance] project accountant, executive secretary. apply to psplanning@planning.go.ke by 31/7

• Unilever Bails

  Posted: July 9, 2008, 10:24 pm by bankelele

  Redux: Things I missed on Kutwa Tuesday
  
  Business Daily: My favorite newspaper is cutting back on online content to charge subscribers $ 132 per year?
  
  Unilever (UK) have applied to buy the under-valued shares from minority shareholders – and if they succeed they will de-list from the NSE. They are offering to buy shares at 62 shillings ($0.95) when they had previously traded at 45/=. Unilever owns 88.23% of the Kenyan subsidiary and need less than 2% to reach their target of 90% and are already within reach [shares from the NSSF or Jubilee and KCB pensions’ will tip them over]
  
  Other exchange changeovers’ have taken places [Serena and CFC] but they companies have continued to trade at the NSE. The NSE / CMA are loath to lose companies, and with (now) 6 suspended companies, this will be interesting. Both Carbacid and BOC were knee-capped by the CMA and their shareholders missed out on the NSE bull run over the last three years [both shares have been suspended since December 2005!]
  
  Streak over briefly: Safaricom has dominated the market since the day it was listed, but yesterday was the first day that another company’s’ shares were traded more than Safaricom since June 9th [KCB had 45.7 million rights traded at ~Kshs. 5 as the Government’s 51 million rights which it forfeited were snapped up by other investors]
  
  Results of the Housing Finance rights issue were released showing that it was fully subscribed [raising Kshs. 2.37 billion], though not wildly over-subscribed (3%?). Either the offer, was not enticing, or people have gotten smart enough not to pay for more than they know they will get (80% of those who applied paid for only what they were allocated, 23% applied for more), those who over will get 74% of extras shares, while Equity and Britak will gets 100% of what they applied for [as the Government and NSSF did not take part]). The big winner are transaction advisers First Africa Capital who are set to bag about Kshs. 31 million [$476,000] from the rights issue
  
  Interest rates have quietly crept up in 2008. The Barclays Bond which closed today had rates of 11.5% for investors as do standard chartered fixed deposits as new loans from Barclays and Equity have crossed upwards of the 20%.
  
  Jobs
  most from the daily papers this week
  
  Akili Africa: entry level programmers, ERP implementation consultants, customer relationship manager. d/l is 21/7
  
  Capital Markets Authority: ICT manager, assistant managers [research & product development, policy analysis & planning, procurement & logistics, finance, investigations, ICT, human resources] officers [senior compliance, investigations, senior investigations, customer service, senior policy analysis & planning, legal enforcement, legal framework, policy analysis & planning] analysts [senior financial, financial, stores] d/l is 25/7 by snail mail 74800-00200 to the Acting CEO
  
  CEO of the Constituencies development fund : apply by 31/7 using snail mail
  
  EABL: sales director apply to hr.recruitment@eabl.com
  
  Pilots at Kenya Airways
  
  Management trainees at KCB. D/l is 16/7
  
  Nairobi Stock Exchange: surveillance officer (detect illegal behavior/trades) . apply to recruitment@nse.co.ke by 18/7
  
  Sameer Africa: head of procurement, planning, logistics, ERP administrator, network & systems administrator hr@sameerafrica.com by 21/7
  
  MY gOVErNment
  a bit of wishful political - mini-reshuffle
  Ministry of Roads: John Michuki
  Ministry of Finance: Peter Kenneth
  Ministry of Environment: Amos Kimunya
  Assistant Minister Home Affairs: Chirau Mwakwere
  Minister for Transport: Franklin Bett

• Kutwa Tuesday: July 8 Briefs

  Posted: July 8, 2008, 4:50 pm by bankelele

  away from the Grand Regency
  
  Banking
  - CFC/Stanbic merger/takeover formalized: As at June 1, the combined banking groups had assets of 78.3 billion shillings [$1.26 billion], deposits of 55 billion [$888 m] and loans of 38.9 billion [$627m]
  - EABS Bank is now Ecobank Kenya
  - Business Cubs: Bank of Africa will launch a small business Club for clients.
  - Going international: building on the success of Safaricom’s M-Pesa, Vodafone will do money transfer between UK and Kenya challenging western union on phone transfers to India, Turkey, Egypt and South Africa (from Balancing Act Africa)
  
  Investments
  - Everyone lovers Safaricom; with 90% of the shares volumes since listing, the company has been added to the AIG index, NSE 20 and NASI indexes from July 1
  - One month after Safaricom allocations, and despite paying an extra fee (30/= for a CDS statement) and making several trades, no new CDS statement has come in the mail
  
  Media
  - KTN joins the morning show club with Sunrise Live – coming a few months after Citizen TV and Nation (NTV) with their ‘breakfast shows’
  - There’s a new relaunched Standard newspaper out today with new layout – but their byline For Fairness, Justice, and Prosperity is straight out of Superman
  
  
  
  Energy
  - Sweden/China joint oil search: Lundin Kenya has bought a share of the field assigned to China [Block 9, Kenya].
  
  Travel
  - Having moved to cut out travel agents, Kenya Airways will next offer hotel and car booking online at their website
  - Rift Valley Railways (RVR) will raise freight charges up 14.5% and will charge a fuel surcharge based on average diesel cost and US$ exchange rate from 1st august
  
  Other
  - Kenya has no summer or winter, but the high court has a summer vacation from 1st to 8th August
  
  Questions from the blogs
  - A recap of the Kenya Re AGM
  - Has tourism in the Mara recovered in 2008?
  - Does EDGE or 3G after all?
  
  Opportunities
  
  Digital: KDN and the ICT Kenya Digital Village are offering free connectivity for digital villages and schools: the program targets rural cyber cafes and schools – who are willing to pay a set- up fee, and share some revenue earned with KDN
  
  Investments
  - The Barclays Bond closes tomorrow (9/7)
  - KCB rights close on 18/7 – so far only NBK has offered loans for KCB rights (up to 90% finance)
  
  Jobs
  - EABL: logistics manager, governance improvement manager, group audit & risk manager, application support analyst, procurement managers (2). Apply to hr.recruitment@eabl.com
  - The electoral commission of Kenya: registrar of political parties, internal audit manager, finance officer. D/L is 23/7 by snail mail
  - Captains of B1900 C and D at executive turbine. Apply through info@xturbine.co.ke
  - Film commission of Kenya: head of programmes, hear of HR & administration, head of finance, Programmes manager, marketing assistant, legal assistant, ICT assistant, executive secretary. Apply to ceo@filmingkenya.com by 18/7
  - Keroche: distributors, area sales representatives. Apply to director.marketing@keroche.com by 11/7
  - National Oil Corp of Kenya: risk analysts, internal audit assistant, procurement analysts, supply analyst
  - Executive director of the privatization commission which became operational in January 2008. Apply (through deloitte) to esd@deloitte.co.ke (22/7)
  - Resources manager at the Rockefeller foundation. Apply (though KPMG) to esd@kpmg.co.ke by 11/7
  
  and
  Marie Stopes: deputy director of male circumcision project (africa) [location: zambia} and male circumcision partnership deputy project manager [location: zimbabwe] d/l is 19/7
  
  Scholar/internships
  - Rhodes Scholarships (2) for Kenyans. D/L is 31/8
  - World Bank young professionals program. D/L is 15/7

• The trouble with Celtel

  Posted: July 3, 2008, 10:14 pm by bankelele

  are free calls enough?
  
  [I am not a customer, but I have probably bought and discarded three of their SIM cards to coincide with some ongoing promotions. Too many people I call are on Safaricom, and until number portability comes along, (carrying my number to another networks) I am stuck with Safaricom]
  
  Beside number portability, there are other things they need to sort out; Celtel has been losing customers (23% down from a year ago), executive staff (compared to the ‘stable' team at Safaricom and direction. The change of brand from Kencel to celtel to Zain only benefits paint and marketing companies (but there’s already a 'Z' brand in Tanzania and a couple of other African countries)
  
  My biggest peeve with them is there are too many products; these are never promoted long enough to mature or register with subscribers and potential customers.
  
  This week
  - For internet/data users - they have Uhurunet - unlimited internet service, whose equipment is a USB modem costing 6,000 shillings [$95] and 3,000 [$48] per month for unlimited internet which is not bad [and this compares well against Safaricom]
  
  - For callers: Earlier this week they launched a six-month tariff with free airtime for people who purchase cheap phones (targeted at rural subscribers). And now from the skunkworks group we learn that they have another new tariff with Free calls from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day (top up with 100 shillings to take advantage) - will this be the one that gives them an edge over Safaricom? That's the problem with Celtel - great products, big marketing budget, but jumbled messages that confuse subscribers. In the last year they have advertised their lowest rate at 6 shillings (Mambo 6), 4 shillings (to 3 preferred numbers) and now 3/= ($0.05)per minute. That is three times cheaper than Safaricom, but who has the masses and who has the right message?
  
  Other tales
  
  - Opportunity: Nominate a worthy Kenyan to the Generation Kenya program
  
  - From Uganda and GTV comes pre-paid premium TV - subscribers can pay for their GTV pay TV packages using scratch cards
  
  Experian Kenya: joining the Kenyan credit reference pool is Experian in partnership with Quest Holdings.
  
  - Day 19 of the Safaricom IPO has 4,121 deals, worth 342 million ($5.42 million) Closing 7.20 High 7.40 Low 7.00 Last 7.20 and volume of 47.5 million shares. It’s well supported and Buyers must be sniffing out a conclusion to the de-leveraging process. Commentary and data from Rich.co.ke - NSE data vendor [with Free real time prices between 0930 -1500]

• Grand Debate

  Posted: July 2, 2008, 10:29 pm by bankelele

  [EDIT – at the end of the session, members of parliament passed a motion of censure against the Minister for Finance – Amos Kimunya, MP for Kipipiri]
  
  Live on TV - all stations
  
  Is the debate to censure Finance Minister Amos Kimunya for his role in the controversial sale of the Grand Regency Hotel.
  
  Before a rather hostile opposition side, He’s just given a statement where he:
  
  - Outlined his long history as an accountant and a crusader for reforms, revenue gains and tax savings for the Kenyan people numerous times such as with De La Rue, pending contractor bills, Safaricom, Telkom Kenya
  - On Safaricom. Mobietelea was there long before he was in government or parliament
  - On Alcazar - reputed owner of 11% in Safaricom – he says after Vodafone (K) and the Kenya government, no one else owns more than 1% of the company (after the IPO)
  - On the Grand Regency Hotel: it was sold for $45 million {~ billion shillings} in May 2008
  - The central bank made the sale and was not under duress.
  - The ministry of lands, attorney generals office, prime ministers’ office have all received various reports
  - More info forthcoming tomorrow
  
  Safaricom IPO
  Day 18 - Deals 5,266 Turnover 439, million ($6.86) million Ave 7.29 Closing 7.25 High 7.50 Low 7.20 Last 7.30 Volume 60.3 million shares - Market still absorbing supply but its very well supported at these levels. The move higher depends on how much more de-leveraging has to be done.
  
  Day 17 - Deals 4,671 Turnover 302 million ($4.7 million) 7.35 High 7.50 Low 7.25 Last volume of 41 million shares - orderly and some sellers came off 7.50 to sell lower. Strong demand at 7.25. Remains constructive. 6.65-8.15 range.
  commentary and data courtesy of Rich.co.ke - N.S.E Data Vendor

Blah blah blah

Fish cakes

Alas a fish cake.

Yet more fish cakes

Guess what ... yeah ... fish cakes.

The end of the fish cakes