Kenya Power to Recover KES 212Mn in Unpaid Bills by Selling KANU Nakuru Branch Offices

Economic Calendar:

Macro Economic:

• Data from Nielsen Consumer Confidence Index shows that 53% plan to spend on consumer goods, home improvement and investment in stocks. The positive sentiment hinges on the solid performance of the local currency, attributed to stringent monetary tightening and the low level of dependence on hydrocarbons (oil) and mineral exports.
• Tea prices at the Mombasa auction were at an 11-month high. A kilogram sold at KES 263- up from KES 250 in the previous auction. Tea volume at the auction increased by 697,859 kgs to 8,230,000 kgs. 8.18% of the 126,695 packages on sale remained unsold at the auction.

Fixed Income:

Settlement for the bond auction completed last week takes place today which will result in a slow trading day. The market is also eagerly waiting for the results of the Central Bank’s MPC meeting being held today; with expectations that the interest rate will be maintained at 10.00%. November inflation number is set to be released on Thursday this week by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.

Corporate News:

Kenya Power and Lightning Company Limited (NSE: KPLC) received a court order to sell Kanu’s Nakuru branch offices, offering a means of recovering the KES 212Mn in unpaid bills. The electricity distributor had been in a 12-year court battle with the political party, for defaulting on electricity bills for eight years while occupying offices at Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC). We portend that the sale of land will spur bullish sentiment for the company, reflecting an expected boost in the company’s bottom line.

Britam Holdings Group (NSE: BRIT), announced plans to cross-list in neighbouring countries, as part of a four-year strategy to consolidate gains. The listings would be on the Ugandan Securities Exchange (USE), Dar Es Salaam Securities Exchange (TSE) and Rwandan Stock Exchange (RSE); all regions that the  insurance firm expanded into four years ago. The cross-listing will bear significant benefits for the company, most notably an increase in shareholders base and improvement in counter liquidity; both rallying incentive’s for the counter.

Trading Expectation:

Market volumes remained relatively unchanged along with foreign participation. The top traded counter was  Kenya Commercial Bank Limited (NSE: KCB) with a net foreign outflow due to profit taking. WPP Scangroup Limited (NSE: SCAN) was the second most traded counter for the day, followed closely by KenolKobil (NSE: KENO) with net buying interest into the counter. We expect to see slight movement in the banking counters for the day’s trading session.

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