African Thoughts: August 25, 2014

Nigeria:

It was another uninspiring week from an activity point of view with turnover falling -7.45% to $75.8m with Nestle and Zenith being the two most active stocks thanks to a few crosses. The two major sectors closed the week lower with the bank index falling -0.18% and consumers falling -0.06% while the ASI managed to close +0.44% higher. Guaranty Trust Bank released H1 2014 results which seemed to disappoint with PAT falling -10.20%. The National Bureau released July inflation figures which saw consumer prices rise +8.3% for the month. The Debt Management Office announced on Tuesday that Nigeria’s foreign debt rose 40% to $9.38bn from its last publicly available data of $6.7bn as at March 2013.

Kenya:

One would have expected the market to be rather quiet in Nairobi last week but it was surprisingly active as locals dominated activity (59.6%) with turnover amounting to $49.2m. The most active stocks came in the form of Safcom and KenoKobil after the later released H1 2014 results. BATK continued to post impressive gains and reached a new 52-week high of KES 825, despite news that the Tobacco Control Board released its first set of pictorial warnings to be used on cigarette packages. Britam also released H1 2014 results which saw EPS increase +27.2%. Kenya Airways fell -10% after the national carrier’s decision to cancel flights to Ebola-stricken Nigeria and Ghana.

Zimbabwe:

It was a very impressive week from an activity point of view with turnover amounting to $46.81, but this should however be taken with a pinch of salt as a block of ABCH worth $38.05m changed hands at 82c. This was as a result of Atlas Mara concluding its acquisition of a controlling stake in Banc ABC and ADC. Another pleasing note was the fact there was some foreign participation in the likes of Delta and Econet. The market was very strong and managed to close the week higher with the Industrial Index gaining +1.39%.

Mauritius:

It was a relatively decent week from an activity point of view with turnover amounting to $13.1m as the two major banking stocks MCBG and SBM accounted for 63% of turnover while foreigners were net sellers. Banking stocks ended the week mixed with MBCG gaining +0.1% while SBM closed unchanged. Bramer Bank was however the star performer in the sector and managed to gain +6.5%. Hotel stocks had a good week with NMH (+0.6%), LUX (+1.9%) and SUN (+3.0%) all closing higher.