Uchumi Supermarket in Mombasa, Kenya. Despite its low price, Uchumi is unable to invite bids. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP Kenyan companies cross-listed on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE) are reporting mixed results as the market remains unpredictable.
Whereas Kenya Airways and Uchumi are struggling to interest buyers, KCB Group, East African Breweries Ltd (EABL) and Jubilee Holdings are growing interest.
Kenya Airways (KQ) started the week with its shares trading at the lowest price since listing 15 years ago. KQ shares opened at Tsh55 ($0.024) and closed the week at Tsh50 ($0.022), continuing a downward trend, that began two years ago. The shares, which once traded at Tsh140 ($0.061), had already dropped in value to Tsh75 ($0.033) by May 24, when the airline announced the departure by the end of the year of chief executive and group managing director Sebastian Mikosz.
Nation Media Group’s share price dropped from Tsh870 ($0.38) to Tsh850 ($0.37) on Monday, but by close of business on Friday it had risen to Tsh870 ($0.38)
Uchumi Supermarkets Ltd is still the worst foreign performer at the DSE, with a capitalisation of Tsh1.82 billion ($800,000), the lowest of all 27 listed companies.
Uchumi’s share price has been stuck at Tsh5 ($0.0022) and is still unable to invite any bids or offers. The situation is a far cry from October last year when Uchumi was the top gainer at DSE. It was still maintaining a decent momentum at the turn of the year, but it has been downhill since then.
For the performing companies, KCB shares were trading at Tsh1,120 ($0.49) on Monday, having stumbled since April to hit Tsh860 ($0.37) by mid-September but were at Tsh1,150 ($.50) by close of Friday. KCB is also listed on the Uganda Securities Exchange and the Rwanda Stock Exchange. Its market capitalisation on the DSE rose from Tsh2.6 trillion ($1.15 billion) in December 2018 to Tsh3.4 trillion ($1.5 billion) currently.
This is despite a recent report in which KCB’s Tanzanian branch management predicted possible “headwinds that may arise largely from economic policy uncertainty with stunted private sector growth”.
Meanwhile, despite its share price taking a beating over the course of the year, Jubilee Holdings has also maintained a strong presence on the DSE floor. The firm began 2019 with a healthy Tsh9,650 ($4.2) share price, but dropped to Tsh7,850 ($3.42) by close of business Friday.
EABL has also had a tough year on the Dar […]