Death For Uchumi as it Shuts Down Aga Khan Walk Branch?

Is Uchumi Supermarket now in its final stages of dying and exiting the Kenyan market? Or is the retailer already dead but the owners are holding on with the hope of bringing it back to life?

On Thursday, the ailing retailer closed down the iconic Aga Khan Walk branch in Nairobi’s CBD further signaling its continuous sinking despite efforts to revive it.

Although the management has maintained that the closure is just temporary, analysts say that the retailer might never recover.

In the recent times, Uchumi has embarked on the reduction of its branches, releasing some like the Lang’ata Hyper to franchise deal. The retailer is targeting close to 200 franchise mini shops across Kenya.

Uchumi has so far closed down 40 of its vibrant branches across the East African region with the only presence being in Kenya at the moment.

Uchumi at NSE: Market Turnover Continues to Bloom

Despite the woes facing it, Uchumi has relatively remained resilient at the Nairobi Securities Exchange featuring among the top gaining two times during the week.

NSE on Thursday

On Thursday, the market turnover increased from 2.50 billion shillings to 3.05 billion shillings with most activity on the 20-year paper.

The interbank rate averaged at 8.34 percent from 8.50 percent previously, with volumes increasing to 10.24 billion shillings from 8.06 billion shillings.

As the week comes to an end, market analysts do not expect to see significant changes from Thursday’s session. The shilling strengthened marginally against the dollar to close at 100.3 from 100.4 previously, supported by increased diaspora remittances.

Trading Expectations on Friday

In Friday’s session, market analysts expect trading to be concentrated on the key traded counters; KCB, Equity, Safaricom, and EABL.

They also expect KCB and Equity to remain within current support and resistance levels. However, there exists some upward pressure on Equity due to increased foreign demand.

On Safaricom, they expect trading to oscillate between 28.5 shillings and 29.0 shillings while supply on EABL is currently at 225 shillings.