•Wednesday, October 04, 2006
kenya power and lighting company (kplc) announced its annual results. its pretax profit rose by 26.2% from 1.3bn to 1.6bn shs. the company’s earning per share went up from shs 16.05 to shs20.78. shareholders will get sh1.5 in dividend, same as last year.
however, there are fears that kplc may not see a similar trend of shs21.8bn to shs22.5bn rise in turnover it experienced this year come next year. its protracted bulk tariff tussle with newly listed kengen, if it goes kengen way may result to a kplc pretax loss of shs692m. if compelled to buy power at shs 2.36 per tariff instead of shs1.76, the loss is estimated to rise to shs866m in 2007/08. this battle stems from an agreement reached in 2003 which compelled kengen to reduce the tariff for power it sells to kplc from shs1.76 to shs2.36. the reduction was to help kplc overcome its cash crunch. the preferred charge was to end in july 2006. already, kengen is invoicing kplc at shs2.36 per unit as it had informed investors during its ipo. finance minister amos kimunya has entered the fray demanding that kengen retains the subsidized tariffs. kplc is currently trading at 267shs while kengen is trading at shs 35.
uganda's story is different. uganda's electricity tariff’s could rise by about 1,100% as the government rolls out more thermal power plants to address the current energy crisis.
uchumi supermarkets turnaround scheme seems to be making a positive turn with the opening of westlands branch and planned opening of meru and karatina branches. the company's receiver manager, jonathan ciano has seen ten branches opened by august this year with performance of reopened branches within projections. uchumi is still looking for a strategic investor to inject between sh300m and sh800m in capital over the next six months for expansion of its branches in kenya and the region. uchumi has of late recorded 87% rise in sales compared to the same period in 2005.
kenya's ministry of health has launched a programme where citizens can access malaria al (artemether lumefantrine) tablets at all government hospitals and mission health centres for free. malaria is the leading killer disease in most parts of the country.
unga group limited whose shares are trading at an average of shs17 reported an 8% drop in its pretax profits for year ending june 2006 from shs155m to shs142.4 million. the directors did not recommend any dividends. some of the reasons for declining profits include, the uchumi supermarkets debt write-off, operating losses in its uganda business where flour production has been impacted by power outages. losses have been experienced in its animal health business attributed to the avian flu scare.
kengen reported a pre tax profit of shs 3.8bn shillings for the year ended june 2006 up form the previous shs 1.8bn reported in the previous year. earning per share rose from shs 0.5 to shs 1.71. dividend payment rose from shs 0.23 paid out in 2005 to shs 0.55 this year. dividends will be paid to those appearing in kengen’s books on 23rd november 2006. its agm will be held at kasarani gymnasium on 30th november 2006.
negotiations are in top gear for the sale of governments shares in safaricom. vodafone uk has preemptive rights and the government is pushing for the best deal possible from the british firm. the government wants to sell nine per cent of telkom’s 60per cent stake in safaricom. the government is yet to agree on a price with vodafone, which has a 40 per cent stake in the company. a sale of nine per cent shares would leave telkom holding 51 per cent which will still make it a majority shareholder in the company. an initial 100m usd offer by vodafone to buy an extra 11 per cent in safaricom was rejected by the government for being too low. telkom is being spruced up for privatization. this year a staff restructuring exercise is ongoing and the process of selling loss-making gilgil technology industries (gti) is on course and has attracted six suitors. telkom has been divesting from non-core activities and has left the telecomm players breathless as it rolls out innovative products which had been left to private players in previous years.
however, there are fears that kplc may not see a similar trend of shs21.8bn to shs22.5bn rise in turnover it experienced this year come next year. its protracted bulk tariff tussle with newly listed kengen, if it goes kengen way may result to a kplc pretax loss of shs692m. if compelled to buy power at shs 2.36 per tariff instead of shs1.76, the loss is estimated to rise to shs866m in 2007/08. this battle stems from an agreement reached in 2003 which compelled kengen to reduce the tariff for power it sells to kplc from shs1.76 to shs2.36. the reduction was to help kplc overcome its cash crunch. the preferred charge was to end in july 2006. already, kengen is invoicing kplc at shs2.36 per unit as it had informed investors during its ipo. finance minister amos kimunya has entered the fray demanding that kengen retains the subsidized tariffs. kplc is currently trading at 267shs while kengen is trading at shs 35.
uganda's story is different. uganda's electricity tariff’s could rise by about 1,100% as the government rolls out more thermal power plants to address the current energy crisis.
uchumi supermarkets turnaround scheme seems to be making a positive turn with the opening of westlands branch and planned opening of meru and karatina branches. the company's receiver manager, jonathan ciano has seen ten branches opened by august this year with performance of reopened branches within projections. uchumi is still looking for a strategic investor to inject between sh300m and sh800m in capital over the next six months for expansion of its branches in kenya and the region. uchumi has of late recorded 87% rise in sales compared to the same period in 2005.
kenya's ministry of health has launched a programme where citizens can access malaria al (artemether lumefantrine) tablets at all government hospitals and mission health centres for free. malaria is the leading killer disease in most parts of the country.
unga group limited whose shares are trading at an average of shs17 reported an 8% drop in its pretax profits for year ending june 2006 from shs155m to shs142.4 million. the directors did not recommend any dividends. some of the reasons for declining profits include, the uchumi supermarkets debt write-off, operating losses in its uganda business where flour production has been impacted by power outages. losses have been experienced in its animal health business attributed to the avian flu scare.
kengen reported a pre tax profit of shs 3.8bn shillings for the year ended june 2006 up form the previous shs 1.8bn reported in the previous year. earning per share rose from shs 0.5 to shs 1.71. dividend payment rose from shs 0.23 paid out in 2005 to shs 0.55 this year. dividends will be paid to those appearing in kengen’s books on 23rd november 2006. its agm will be held at kasarani gymnasium on 30th november 2006.
negotiations are in top gear for the sale of governments shares in safaricom. vodafone uk has preemptive rights and the government is pushing for the best deal possible from the british firm. the government wants to sell nine per cent of telkom’s 60per cent stake in safaricom. the government is yet to agree on a price with vodafone, which has a 40 per cent stake in the company. a sale of nine per cent shares would leave telkom holding 51 per cent which will still make it a majority shareholder in the company. an initial 100m usd offer by vodafone to buy an extra 11 per cent in safaricom was rejected by the government for being too low. telkom is being spruced up for privatization. this year a staff restructuring exercise is ongoing and the process of selling loss-making gilgil technology industries (gti) is on course and has attracted six suitors. telkom has been divesting from non-core activities and has left the telecomm players breathless as it rolls out innovative products which had been left to private players in previous years.
|
0 comments: