African Thoughts: June 01, 2015

Nigeria:

It was an absolutely dire week in Lagos as turnover fell -33.75% to $88.48m while the market came under pressure as well with the ASI falling -0.96%. Consumers were the major drag on the market as the sector fell -2.47% thanks to losses in Nestle (-4.20%) and NB (-2.71%). Banks also closed the week lower with the Index falling -0.95% as Access (-7.11%) and UBA (-4.90%) were the major drags on the sector. The Nigerian Stock Exchange has included Sterling Bank Plc in the NSE 30 Index, following a review of the composition of market indices by the Exchange. Oando PLC, headquartered in Nigeria says it has entered into a definitive agreement with HV Investments II B.V (HVI), a joint venture owned by a fund advised by Helios Investment Partners (Helios) and The Vitol Group (Vitol), to dispose 51 percent of its voting rights and 60 percent of the economic rights of its downstream businesses.

Kenya:

The market closed the week flat in Nairobi with the NSE 20 Index remaining unchanged while turnover increased +126.7% to a very impressive $118.1m thanks to a large foreign block trade in EQBNK (part of Helios' disinvestment in the bank). Foreign outflows amounted to $7.9m as overall foreign participation accounted for 85.7% of activity. EABL (-5.8%) was amongst the worst performers last week and touched a 2015 low of KES 290. NMG (+11.7%) was amongst the top performers thanks to local investor demand. The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) released inflation figures for June which stood at 7.03% compared to 6.87% in May 2015.

Zimbabwe:

It was a better week in terms of activity in Harare as turnover increased to $4.13m while the weakness continued as the Industrial Index fell -1.74% taking the YTD loss to -10.19%. Crosses in the likes of Econet (34%), Innscor (28%), Dairibord (14%) and Delta (11%) accounted for the bulk of activity. The stock exchange switched to automated trading last Friday (as opposed to the open outcry system).

Mauritius:

A relatively average week in activity terms as turnover amounted to $8.6m with things slowing down towards the end of the week while the market came under some pressure with the Semdex falling -1.1%. The two major banks ended the week mixed with MCBG falling -2.2% while SBMH ended unchanged. Hoteliers all ended the week lower with NMH, LUX and SUN falling -2.9%, -0.8% and -1.3% respectively.