African Thoughts: May 12, 2014

Nigeria:

With an end to all the public holidays activity managed to increase 29.19% to $108.94m over the course of the week. Large crosses in the likes of GTB, Zenith and FBNH were the main drivers behind turnover. Banking stocks managed to close the week on the front foot again with the Index gaining +0.23% with Skye Bank (+6.40%), Access (+5.70%) and FCMB (+4.23%) driving the sector higher. FBNH (-5.58%) came under some pressure, but this should however be taken with a pinch of salt as the counter went ex-div. Consumers closed the week slightly lower with the Index falling -0.16% as 7-UP (-8.89%), IntBrew (-3.85%) and UACN (-1.75%) came under pressure. There were good performances from (+5.57%) and Unilever (+1.40%). Dangote Cement released Q1 2014 results which saw PAT decline -11.38%.

Kenya:

Turnover rose to a year high last week on the back of foreign participation (54.3%) with a large cross in BATK helping boost activity while the NSE 20 Index gained 0.1%. EQBNK managed to hit an all-time high of KES 42.50 on large volume ($9.7m) with foreign demand driving the counter higher. EABL (+0.7%) also closed the week higher on foreign demand as the brewer is currently in negotiations with the treasury over a duty remission reduction which increased tax on Senator Keg and led to a drop in sales (more than 80%). Safcom closed the week -1.9% lower at KES 12.85 as the telco is set to release FY 2014 results after the close today. Vietnamese state-owned operator Viettel Group, MTN and a UK firm are in the running to acquire a 70% stake that Orange owns in Telkom Kenya.

Zimbabwe:

It was a good week from a performance point of view in Harare as the Industrial Index managed to gain +1.71%. Econet released their much anticipated FY 2014 results last week with revenues increasing +8% and the counter subsequently gained +6.38% to clse the week at 66c. Innscor and Delta also put in solid performances with the names gaining +4.39% and +2.99% respectively. Another positive was the fact that turnover increased +159.35% to $12.45m with Econet and Delta accounting for 83% of turnover.

Mauritius:

The market came under pressure last week with the Semdx falling -1.5% to close at 2,033.87. MCBG was the major drag on the market with the counter falling -2.8% and accounted for 51.3% of turnover. SBM also closed the week lower with the name falling -1.0% while NMH fell -2.5% to close at Rs83.50. Monthly tourist arrivals for April increased 16% y/y.