Nairobi — Loss-making tyre distributor Sameer Africa emerged as the best stock in 2019 at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) with Kenya Airways ranked as the worst in a year when the bourse is in line to make a 16.6 percent return.
Sameer Africa’s share has gained 81 percent since the start of the year and closed trading at Ksh3.35 Thursday, meaning an investor who invested Ksh1 million in the stock on January 2 has gained Sh810, 000.
In contrast, investors who bought Kenya Airways shares worth Ksh1 million, suffered a loss of Ksh773,000 given the share has shed 77.3 percent since the start of the year to stand at Ksh2.02 at close of trading Thursday.
This analysis is based on investors who buy shares at the start of the year and measures their return at the end of the trading season in a review that does not capture speculators who enter and exit stocks in short periods. Sameer, whose a half-year losses widened to Ksh182.8 million, offered better returns than Safaricom and top banks like Equity and KCB–which have recently emerged as the jewel stocks for investors seeking returns.
"These small cap stocks like Sameer see price shifts based on thin volumes, hence the big story in the market this year has been the removal of the rate cap in the fourth quarter, which alongside the NIC-CBA merger has given the large bank stocks a shot in the arm," said Standard Investment Bank analyst Martin Kirimi.
"This combined with Safaricom performance has uplifted the whole market." The market has gained Ksh348 billion so far with all shares valued at Ksh2.45 trillion, a reversal from last year when it shed Ksh400 billion.
