Results Catch Up- NSE FTSE half yr

TPS Serena is recovering nicely from a tough 2008 and going by the visa queues at the Kenya High Comm recently, things should continue to improve.

StanChart surprised didn't it with an atypical 38% increase from H1 2008? The bottomline was driven by circa 24% growth in both interest income (and surprisingly nothing to do with govt securities despite the Ksh9bn increase) and F&C as well as flat expenses. In other words strong cost/income ratio. Capital ratios look tight. Still not a buy for me unless for dividend purposes (Ksh2.50 DPS will be paid in early Oct). NBK (an okay 11% uptick) and KCB also released some flat as a pancake PAT. Some high quotient analysis was done on the latter here. BBK's Adan Mohamed had a party after 5% rise on 2008 H1, but a couple of sobering points. Flat costs and vastly reduced loan loss provisions means there should have been a higher rise. But nothing came from the income side of the P&L. Finally, parent bank showed up with 8% rise despite a very challenging environment and did better than its rival clearing banks Lloyds TSB, HSBC. RBS may do better though.

ARM continues to defy high production costs with a 32% yoy increase in profits pegged on turnover growth of 16% and reduction in production costs. It remains despite its small 10% cement market the stock to watch out of the 3 cement sellers and infact one of the good picks from the NSE industrial stocks.

Olympia finally decided to announce its FY 2008 numbers. As expected, it rolled up with a loss though not as high as many of us had forecasted (Ksh56m). I suspect the numbers don't fit. For example, if you strip Ksh1bn for Plush, you leave Olympia where it was before it bought it. Smart...

NSE weekly: crucial next pt is post Q2 close, Olympia...

NSE was up almost 10% for the week on strong foreign buying. Top climbers were penny stocks such as Co-op (up 32% pre-dividend close) and MSC (up 19%, despite 73% fall in H1 profits). I think alot of investors are geting overexcited about co-generation which won't start revenue generation until 2010. ARM was up 24% being the pick construction stock. I am really waiting to say how its going to throw out the great Bamburi from its house with this being a first step. From all points of view, it doesn't make sense to have the kind of share-ownership that Bamburi has in its two main rivals. What happened in the 90s is history. One stock that has flown silently and fast under the radar is Crown Berger. I really like stocks with small amount of total shares and it is one (23m with only 6m floated). It has gone from Ksh10 in end February to close at Ksh29.50 jana. All well, I've now got it on my radar.

Next two weeks will be pivotal in signaling whether this is a bull with steady legs or an upside correction that will leave us swaying between 3-3,500. Next Friday should see fund managers exit to close books for half year. From there, it will increasingly become clear which shares are being ramped up and which are strong fundamentally. In addition to two of the above shares, I expect Equity to see some forward momentum in early part fo the week.

News, announcements and rumours:

Safcom continues to tidy up its broadband offering with jv/alliance with Jamii which will in effect save Safcom from having to cable up the city.

Rumours abound about the state of shambolic Olympic (once its was a furniture distributor with regional aspirations; next it became an investment firm; forever raising cash; etc) may be under some stress. Apparently,a single sourced SK-rumour suggests that Plush and Natwood, its businesses in SA have closed shop. Last time I got access to Olympia's website, Plush accounted for 50% of its turnover. I believe its full year results will have to be announced by close of play in June.

CMA rules announced over a year ago will now hopefully become law as they've been included in the recent budget.

Other markets-FTSE:

Some yo-yoing though at last data is out there showing we are over the absymmal era and now just in the bad. Banking stocks are not being helped by rating agencies being behind the curve as usual and issuing negative credit watch for a whole swathe of sector. Remains all-good though.

NSE weekly - gently recovering

Equity pre-uploading of the extra 9 shares per account is almost up 90% from its Ksh9.3 low a month ago and as of yesterday close the index is up around20% from its low of the year. Still...how does one take a long-term view on the NSE given the econo-political side of the equation?

Results & Corporate Actions:

Kenol announced first results in its merged form and went up 20% on a 12 month basis. Note the ballooning finance costs partly due to the hostile business environment in Kenya. Generous DPS of Ksh3.50 payable in June. Oil industry can expect another tough year as it clears old stock and due to the economy.

Total its rival in the market, seems to have dealt better with its financing needs. PAT is up 34% on slight improvement in gross margins. Usual Ksh2.50 DPS will be paid in June.

ARM was up a disappointing 19% (and underperformed its budgeted Ksh442m), though fertilizer and its non-cement products are growing very well. Fuel and other input costs clearly played their part. DPS is Ksh1.25. Cement share in Kenya remains low so there is room for growth.

TPS had a terrible yr as expected with PAT down 46%. Notably however, turnover was only down 11%. Methinks 2009 maybe a flat yr owing to global crunch.

Centum confirmed writedown on RVR investment as well as effects of NSE falling (index fell 71% yoy to end of March). I suspect part of the problem looking at its portfolio is that it has a lot of filler i.e. stock that a good fund manager won't hold. A bit of a hospital pass for James Mworia from current NSE CEO.

PS: Are we going to catch up technologically in the NSE now fibre is here? Today you can't find one website where you can chart even the Index.

FTSE: breached psychologically important 4,000 mark.

Results season: Things to look out for

Most of the full year results will be released within this month and next. With this in mind, I'll be looking at for following in addition to the usual yoy growth in PBT, cash flow, debt.

Banks:

• Growth in other income: As long as CBK is determined to keep interest rates low and interest margins remain under pressure, banks need to diversify their income. Equity, KCB, StanChart and to some extent, NIC should see a very good year given entry into custody business by Equity and fx volatility for the other 3.
• Loan loss provision-most banks grew loans hugely in 2007 compared to 2006. Then the economy ground to a halt in 2008 and has since not really resurrected. My expectation is that loan loss provision which in ordinary times accounts for an average of 1% of the listed banks total loans will account for around 3% of the additional loans that were given in 2007 vs 2006.
• Risk management- given CBK's intentions on Basel 2and the world we are in now, this one will be of particular interest to me. Banks need to be clear about the risks they face and the contingency plans in place.
• About time HFCK showed some positive momentum.

Of the other financials, PanAfric will have benefitted from its associate's strong showing in Q3.

Industrials:

Impact of higher oil, electricity prices and a weaker Ksh/$ rate, makes it harder to call this sector. ARM is of particular interest especially keen to know if its gaining cement market share against the two. EA Cable's 2nd half should much be improved given copper prices have gone through the floor.

Commercial and Services:

With the exception of TPS (will have a horrible yr given its start), the rest should as minimum not see lower than 10% growth compared to 2007. CMC and Car & General have already come through very strongly and it shouldn't be different for the others. AK is of particular interest as it needs to show momentum ahead of the fibre optic arrival in Q2-it will also be interesting to see how its residential business is doing.

Forward looking statements:

NSE shares rarely do this, but it would be good if counters gave a view on 2009.

NSE Update- technical hitch gives way to bounce

The NSE was a one way bet, until the "technical hitch" on Thursday. Even the papers had the quotation marks around the technical hitch. Equity for example had 1 share in demand for every 8 suppplied on Wednesday. On Thursday after the " ", the ratio was the almost the same but opposite. For Equity, this sounds okay given it had just announced very good results, but AK, KCB, EABL and others didn't announce their results on Thursday. 2ndly yesterday was a surprise, because although Equity announced its results on Thursday morning, the 10% rule was lifted yesterday. In any case, my take is the two days rise was aimed at Co-op IPO and investors (as opposed to speculators/traders), should eiether step in slowly or wait for a full week of solid volume rises.

Results announced in the last week:
KCB- up 69% yoy driven by strong F&C and strong jaw effect between costs and income. Flat vs. Q2.
DTK-up but can't locate its results
KQ-down 63% yoy, but a commendable perfomance in respect of growing revenue in the first half despite everything. It must get its customer service and hedging right to recover. Really needs a new CEO.
ARM-up 15% yoy on similar turnover growth. Cash flow a bit stronger after loan.
Equity- up 277% yoy for the 9 months driven by Safcom IPO and Ksh0.2m higher than my forecasted fall from Q2.
HFCK-up 36%, Equity has a 20% stake and is in my view, unlikely to take a bigger chunk of HFCK for the time being.

Elsewhere, EA Cables appointed James Mworia, a young guy from TC as its new CEO (apparently).

Athi River half year result disappoints:

The half year results were a bit of a shock. I expected to see 30-40% growth bearing in mind the reconstruction effort. Instead, cement sales were flat (reading between the lines), working capital requirements increased meaning it didn’t sell as much as it was producing. Annualised EPS of 4.60 means 7% yoy growth for the full year, basically lower than Bamburi’s 2006/7 growth. The spilt of the businesses will show the continued growth in fertilisers and lime and may actually have a downside because most of us have been buying the stock because of the ongoing boom in construction industry.
I expect to see investors selling off Athi River in the short-term until they are able to compare its half numbers with those of Bamburi when it announces late July or early August.

With most of the FFIs having downloaded their Safcom holdings, investors will probably play a wait and see game while awaiting the entry of Telkom Orange and Econet in August and September.

Thursday shorts

I guess the fact that she has been doing the job fairly competently (and anybody would be compared to Ntamani) should have and has given her a head start for the real position. Insiders will be happy because they are familiar with Stella Kilonzo, but for us investors, I think the preference would have been for an unconnected but knowledgeable individual to guide the markets to the next stage. In anycase, its good to have a lady at the top and I hope she positively surprises...

I thought KQ would tank in its full year PAT given the problems its had (accident, customer service, Virgin), higher oil prices and so forth. Lakini, I think the stronger shilling in the 2nd half of the its financial year helped (I believe KQ normally hedges against a weakening shilling) as did its oil-hedging (fuel expenditure was flat yoy). If you take into account 30% flight occupancy for the Jan and some of Feb, the numbers are very good.

Safaricom continues to find its way downwards. A strong case of not letting in FFIs who think 20% in three months is excellent return and bolt as soon as they get it. I still haven't taken a position. I check bids/offers courtesy of rich.co.ke and they still don't make pretty reading. The price will get to a stage I just have to go in. Safcom has much better fundamentals than a whole slew of other counters. I still recall the fears many had about AK last year.

Fascinating story brewing here. ARM is the young soldier, the pick of the 3 cement counters. But Bamburi is the aging gorilla with 15% stake.

NSE Stock Portfolio: 6 months into 2008

Generally, I haven't traded much this yr, not because of lacking opportunities, more because of a busy schedule elsewhere and an evolving strategy. From buying and holding for the whole presidential cycle, I am now more inclined to buy, and hold as long as the stocks are meeting the short-term mini-goals i.e. FY profits etc.

Bought:

1. During the January clashes: Equity@125, TPS@58 and Barclays@65
2. Nation Media Group@326 just before it announced its results
3. A few Safaricom during the IPO

Switched: after its Q1 results, sold-off my whole Barclays portfolio and switched into Equity@250 and Access Kenya@33.50

Overall Portfolio: Also includes ARM, KCB, NIC and EA Cables.
Overall trading from H1 2008: Very good returns....

Running the ruler over:

• Nation Bank of Kenya
• Safaricom while waiting to see if it'll get cheaper than ksh7.40.

PS: The above is my own personal stock-trading account. For KCIG, we outperformed the NSE for H1 2008

Budget and the NSE...

Unlike last yr, this yr's budget only contained one genuine pt of excitement for the NSE. The reduction of the import duty on cement was done for good reasons. GoK is struggling with building houses fast enough; private sector is struggling with the costs involved in even buidling low-cost housing. Hence targetting greater supply of cement. The 3 local companies are doing well enough and should be able to compete in their own right. Several issues for me, however:

1. Is ARM's spilt of its business into two subsidiarioes related to this budget announcement? I.e. its chemical/industrial minerals business is very competitive (I think it has 70% of the market from memory). Its cement division probably has around 25% market share. So won't it make sense to sell it?
2. Lafarge holds all the cards and I'm surprised it hasn't pushed hjarder to get a bigger stake in the weakest of the 3 cement companies which is East Africa Portland
3. Reducing cement costs is only part of the piece and GoK must started looking at encouraging guys to grow trees aggressively

Otherwise, raising capitalisation to Ksh1bn for banks was a non-event since most are comfortably above this. That for the broking community was a step forward.

In other news, Safcom is finally moving into my buying territory (i.e. below Ksh7.50). Its disappointing how an IPO that looked to have had good execution has been bungled. Imagine there is even a significant group of investors whose orders weren't even entered for the IPO!

Anyway, Equity continues to put smiles on the faces of its shareholders, while bystanders continue to sneer. The hallmark of intelligence is how often you don't repeat the same mistake. Buy Equity so you can be telling your grandkids about how you were part of a banking revolution...For those fearing the August date when the lock-in for the principal shareholders ends, the question is this, if you had 10m shares which you wanted to dispose off in a share that normally sells 300k per day, would you;

1. Throw them all into the market, thus halving your gains?
2. Look for an investor who can buy them from you...?

Monday Shorts

Mugo Kibati's impending departure from EA Cables doesn't sound right. The MIT engineer was airlifted from NY to come and turnaround the then underperforming cable company in 2004. Apart from the profitability growth, he has managed to make EA CAbles a competitor in TZ and further on. The company has just completed a factory that will strategically position it for the incoming fibre optic. So his departure now seems odd and might be due to:

1. The cashflow rumours being true, and thus he is taking the flak or running off before the proverbial hits the fan


2. He sees bad times ahead.

I expect price to drop steadily until a statement is issued on the way forward.

Company's only ever spilt businesses into distinct subsidiaries as opposed to strategic business units if they are planning to sell. Is this ARM's (thanks Bankelele) intention? Note that ARM is primarily a manufacturer of chemicals.

Britak's retention of its highly-rated CEO for its investment arm was a shot in the arm for its plan to do an IPO-which I hope is very soon.

Excellently researched piece on NMG (a share that can only grow further).

Overlooked shares and events

NMG: A solid blue-chip with enormous growth potential within and outside Kenya, its now offering an additional share for every one that you hold to increase liquidity. Despite a high absolute price, this is the best time to buy NMG shares if you are looking to hold until the next general election (whether in 2/5 years). It has good dividend too if you an income-investor.
Equity lock-in period: I'm seeing many jumping into this stock and this to my surprise. Equity's lock-in period comes to an end in just under 4 months time. Unless its confirmed otherwise at the AGM, some of its principal shareholders will be able to offload their holdings post-July thus possibly leading to a lower share price. Saying that, Equity is still the bank to watch for the next 2/3 years.
ARM: For those who missed its full year results, ARM is benefitting hugely from the new clinker, has plans to possibly add another one and is also developing the new site in Ukambani. Oh and its a multi-product firm unlike Bamburi or EAPC. Its slightly higher P/E to its cement peers doesn't lie.
The economy: I think Prof Ryan was more on point on this. We'll be lucky to get 3/4% growth this year given the downturn in agriculture and associated multiplier effects including negative ones such as inflation and likely drought later this year.

What stocks I my investing in

Shanga has asked me what stocks I'm investing in at the NSE. Firstly a general comment about the current stock-investing environment. Its tough worldwide. Reason. Hotmoney aka money from western funds; sentiments about the US economy and of course, credit crunch are all making guys run around the world stock markets like headless chickens. Thus making quick bucks is not an option. In some markets, only risk-takers and those with a one yr+ view are buying.
As for the NSE, the positions I've taken so far this yr have either been based on companies with long-term prospects or for defensive reasons. By defensive I mean averaging. I haven't sold anything yet this yr because apart from Equity, the others haven't reached fruition and I believe they'll.

TPS- Because despite the tourism issues and the fact that 67% of its revenue is from Kenya, nobody does hospitality better in the whole of East, Central and Upper Southern Africa than Serena.
Athi River because it has a good base to go forward. And its not exclusively dependant on revenues from cement.
EA Cables, because Mugo the CEO is not yet 40 and has plenty of good ideas

1. Fibre-optic to take advantage of TEAMS, SEACOM and other under-sea cable projects coming online from 2009 onwards. And of-course, copper is expensive
2. Regional expansion. Most of its turnover growth for 2007 came from outside Kenya
3. Linchpin of Transcentury, therefore has strong shreholder support
4. Any price below Ksh40 is a buying ooportunity for this stockDiamond Trust because trust me its going places.

Barclays for defensive purposes and also because its very tempting when its under Ksh65 as it was a
few weeks back. EABL for the dividend tu.
On my watchlist remain AccessKenya and KCB.

More Q3 results

Athi River recorded 85% growth in PAT, aided by with T/O growing at 55%. Note that ARM is now benefiting from increased cement capacity its new plant. Secondly that it also generates  significant chunk of its revenue from building-related materials rather than cement. Its cash flow has improved immensely from prior yr when it was financing its new Clinker and servicing borrowing. Adding to this momentum is the deal in Kitui for coal and limestone. A good growth 
outside of the banking sector.

BBK saw 12% yoy growth for 9 months of 2007 with income growth being matched by expenses.. Hopefully at some point we'll start seeing the impact of its loan hawking activities on its P&L (an worryingly, on its loan loss provisioning). A nice defensive stock if bought under Ksh75.

NIC (one of my four long-term bets in banking sector), saw 44% growth. int Its income breakdown between interest income andF&C remains a puzzle to me. Compared to its half year results, where its income was primarily derived from NII, the 9 month numbers would almost suggest that it made a loss on interest income. I guess there must a lot of latitude on income claissifcation in Kenya. 18% income growth of was strongly supported by flat expenses. With funds in the bank (I expect the rights to have been massively oversubscribed because of the 2:1 bonus issue) and revenue augmenting moves, NIC is a must buy.

DTK, (my other bet for long-term in the banking sector) saw 67% growth with 71% growth in loans and advances generating 57% interest income growth. DTK was in the market again to raise funds (will just about get full subscription because of compe from NIC) as it looks to expand. Another bank that is shedding its traditional image in its hunt for customers and growth.

Why shun tea (agricultural) stocks?

In their otherwise excellent H2 research piece, D&B have advised investors to avoid tea stocks. This in itself is unusual because brokers (stocks salesmen), will rarely advice you not to buy any share, never mind a whole mini-sector. Their advice was based on changing tastes, fx issues and inflated production costs. Is this sound advice?

Investors will normally invest based on their expectations of capital gain (price performance) and income (dividends). Expectations will change depending on their perception of how price drivers are working. These will be earnings growth; cashflow generation; market share; dividend policy; management and company structure and share liquidity to name but a few. The key word is how in control the company is over all these drivers. In the tea and agriculture sector in general;

1. Earnings are impacted by weather, world prices (fx), GoK policy, changing tastes. All these are outside company control and volatile but are also easily discernable. Its thus possible to do speculative plays based on observed weather patterns, global supply of the particular product and so on
2. Market share: For most at the NSE, they are in world market and with the exception of Rea Vipingo have a small market share. So Rea Vipingo comes into play here provide (1) is working well
3. Cashflow generation: This is probably the most volatile part of earnings for agriculture stocks based on (1).
4. Dividend policy: Most at the NSE are foreign-owned thus give generous dividends (dividend yields by Kapchorua Tea and Rea Vipingo are among the highest) as a means of income repatriation. Again this makes them attractive speculative plays as discernable by price movement as they approach FY.
5. Share Liquidity: They are foreign-owned thus all have a small float that in some cases means virtually no trades for months (Limuru Tea 70% owned by Unilever has traded twice in the last year).

Bottomline: Invest for speculative plays and dividends.

Briefs: Athi River showed a strong H1 07 ; BAT half yr was up slightly on prior yr, but also issued a profit warning as Kenya catches up with the rest of the world and starts to ban smoking; Williamson Tea and subsidiary Kapchorua realised improved FY PBT but predicted lower numbers for this year.

RVR deal goes off the rails, NMG, CFC excite

When the Rift Valley Railway deal was announced, I said that i thought that a 25 year term was economically suicidal. Rail if handled as a business, could be a cornerstone of our economy's regeneration helping generate revenues and support the growth of the our landlocked neighbours, our productive Western and Rift Valley provinces that don't have roads to match their productivity and help ease the wear and tear rote on the Mombasa-Nairobi road by HGVs. To surrender the business away to entities some with dubious history and others that are entangled in messy legal entities for 25 years without any back-out clauses smacks of desperation and will cost us in the next few years. Already, the first results show that under the new RVR tutelage, KR is underperforming in various areas with KPA having to publicly complain about yet-uncollected rail cargo, RVR are still in court with their former partners and they off course haven't paid all the fees to GoK. It is messy and I forecast that the whole deal will have to be reviewed in the next 18 months. The other point to make is that there are very few of the big tenders in any sector that this govt has done well in and I wonder whether we need to call on our "partners" World Bank/IMF to help streamline the way we evaluate these deals so that we get the right candidates.
While I was away, various companies rushed in their results to comply with the end of March rule. Several stood out. NMG with a k12 dps was awesome and those wise enough to look at price growth potential as well as dps will have NMG's shares. For me, this is the only media company worth holding over the long-term given its expansion goals. CFC is one I expect to hear more of. The 06 results show that it can do well on a standalone basis; PAT grew by 68% driven by growth in customer loan book (30%), govt securities and fees and comms. As the only universal bank in Kenya today, CFC will show momentum in the 3-4 years as it streamlines its ops. Its likely merger with Stanbic to create a top 5 bank will be the icing on the cake for its shareholders. Finally, there are rumours that Express is eyeing an strategic international partner presumably to give it capital assistance that will expand its reach. From being a loss maker 3 years ago to an international business is quite some turnaround. ARM, ScanGroup are others that announced FY06.

ARM

ARM presents good opportunity for growth in the future despite not paying an interim dividend for year 2006 this may change come 2007/2009 with the expansion into fertilisers and setting up of a sodium Silicate Plant in South Africa. Also considering the increased demand for all of the Company’s products both in Kenya and in the COMESA region markets.