McKenna Investing Inc.

27/07/2020

Safaricom PLC and Google in drive to replace 4 million ‘mulika mwizi’ (feature phones) with an easy to pay plan from as little as Kshs. 20 per day.

Apart from of course the windfall of more data sales this is critical for getting more Kenyans online. Most Africans access the Internet for the first time using a and most will have this as their only access online.

Commendable. 👌🏾

/www.businessdailyafrica.com/corporate/companies/Safaricom-starts-Sh20-a-day-loan-smartphones/4003102-5599526-pywu66/index.html

The telco is partnering with Google to offer one million affordable smartphones.

27/01/2020

Kenya Macroeconomic Review and Outlook 2020 - A year of pluses and minuses.

Check out the comprehensive report herein...

Copyright © 2020 Sterling Capital LtdHead Office: 11th Floor, Barclays Plaza, Loita Street, Nairobi. />Sterling Capital Ltd is a member of the Nairobi Securities Exchange.

20/01/2020

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) seeks to raise KES.50Bn in its first bond issue of the 2020 calendar year through two re-opened issues FXD1/2019/5 and FXD1/2019/10 with 4.13 and 9.13 Years to maturity respectively.

Our report “Filling the gap” focuses on the two debt issues in the context of a bigger funding gap (KES.146.3Bn) as presented in the 1st supplementary budget in November 2019.

You wanna know how?? Check it out here!!

Copyright © 2020 Sterling Capital LtdHead Office: 11th Floor, Barclays Plaza, Loita Street, Nairobi. />Sterling Capital Ltd is a member of the Nairobi Securities Exchange.

27/12/2019

Barclays Futures Begin Trading at The Nairobi Derivatives Market...

• Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) has announced the listing of Barclays Bank of Kenya single-stock futures to its derivatives market.
• Derivatives traders are now able to buy and sell Barclays Bank Futures on the Nairobi Derivatives Market (NEXT).
• Investors will be required to pay an initial margin of KES.1,800 for one contract, giving them exposure to 1,000 Barclays Bank shares.
• NSE added Barclays Futures into the derivatives market after it reviewed the composition of the NSE 25 Share Index.
• Barclays Bank will be the sixth single stock listed at NEXT in addition to the existing Safaricom, KCB Group, Equity Bank, KenGen and East African Breweries Ltd (EABL) that listed on the launch of the market in July.
• The Kenyan derivatives market started trading on 4th July. The exchange intends to add more products on the derivatives segment including commodities.
• NSE is currently offering single stock futures and equity index future as it awaits development for commodity derivatives for physical items like agricultural products.
• NSE is the second bourse in Sub-Saharan Africa to launch a derivatives exchange market after Johannesburg.

Our View

• The futures trading for the Barclays stock transitioning to ABSA Kenya is expected to offer a hedging ground for its share price at the NSE, where it has been trading between KES.9.54 to KES.13.85 this year.
• The derivatives trading would also boost liquidity on the bourse, which has 65 listed firms of which telecoms and banks are some of the most heavily traded.
• The derivatives market in Kenya will be beneficial in opening up Kenya’s financial markets to domestic and international investors, which will influence the performance of the economy.
• Good investor education is necessary in order to enable investors understand the nature of the product and risks associated with trading in them.

27/12/2019

NCBA adds branches in expansion drive...

• NCBA Group will open at least 10 new branches in Kenya next year as it sets eyes on expanding lending to small and medium-sized businesses.
• The lender will set up the new branches in Nairobi and Mombasa where it already has a presence and in four other counties, which it will be entering for the first time.
• This will raise its branch network to 95, spread across 21 counties. The lender, which is a merger of the former NIC Group and CBA Group, currently has 85 physical branches in 17 counties.
• The merger has left the new outfit with branch overlaps in places such as Thika Road Mall and Junction Mall while in some instances, the branches face each other across the streets.
• The bank will open one or two new ones in strategic locations for each closed branch.

Our View

• Physical branches still serve as sales centres despite the industry’s increased focus on digital as opposed to physical branches.
• New branches in strategic locations will enable the bank to grow by tapping into both retail and corporate banking.
• The number of bank branches in Kenya decreased from 1,518 in 2017 to 1,505 in 2018, which translated to a decrease of 13 branches.
• The decrease in physical bank branches is mainly attributed to the adoption of alternative delivery channels such as mobile banking, internet banking and agency banking.
• We see strategic benefits being the driving force between the two banks following the merger.
• In the medium to long term the merger is expected to derive operational efficiency as the merged entity will have a bigger capital base and will benefit from the bank’s respective strengths which include digitization (CBA) and asset financing (NIC).
• We expect the bank’s increased investment in digital banking and strategic partnerships (M-Shwari and Fuliza) to boost revenue growth and reduce operational costs.

09/12/2019

“Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) strikes the sweet spot”

You wanna know how?? Check it out here!!

https://lnkd.in/dz9yPpM

Copyright © 2019 Sterling Capital LtdHead Office: 11th Floor, Barclays Plaza, Loita Street, Nairobi. />Sterling Capital Ltd is a member of the Nairobi Securities Exchange.

05/11/2019

The Banking (amendment) Act repeal is possibly imminent, and a reversion to the free credit pricing regime. Interesting to see, what's in store for micro lenders with really high credit prices?...at the climax of the consolidation cycle in the market, will the trend subside?

14/10/2019

According to the World Bank, the global economy has continued to slow down, with 2019 growth expected at 2.6%, a 0.4% point decline from the 3.0% recorded in 2018.
This is as a result of;
(1) An escalation in the trade dispute between the US and China.
(2) Country-specific uncertainty such as Britain’s exit from the European Union (“Brexit”).
(3) Heightened geopolitical tension between the US and Iran that has disrupted the mid-stream and down-stream oil supply channels, and
(4) Overall slowing global trade, which, according to World Bank, contracted by 1.4% in June 2019.