Monthly Archives: November 2014

Shares Portfolio: November 2014

Comparing shares to last year and last quarter, the portfolio is up 7% in three months (excluding new investments), while the NSE 20 share index is up is up 0.5% since August 2014.

The Stable

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Bralirwa (Rwanda) ↓
Centum  (ICDCI) ↑
Diamond Trust ↓
KCB ↓
Kenya Airways ↓
Kenya Oil ↑
Mumias Sugar
Nairobi Shares Exchange ↑
Safaricom ↑
Scangroup ↓
Stanbic (Uganda) ↑
Unga ↑
Changes
In: Mumias Sugar
Out: None
Increase: Kenya Airways, KCB, Scangroup
Decrease: None
Best performer: NSE Kenya (up 121% since IPO), Centum (16%), (Unga 14%)
Worst performer: Kenya Airways (down 22%) Bralirwa (down 19%)
Unexpected Events:
– Bralirwa share dip which has been linked to the bonus share
– KQ’s loss in the half year. Amid the arrival of a half-dozen new Boeing 787 Dreamliners and other aircraft and long serving CEO Titus Naikuni stepping down there was one more shock from the airline in the form of a half year loss of Kshs 10.45 billion ($116 million)
– Are Kenya bank stocks overvalued as a Citi report says?
– Listings by Kurwitu Ventures (at Kshs 1,500 per share, which was higher than British American Tobacco that’s at 904 now) and Flame Tree (FTG) in recent weeks in the GEMS category of the NSE.
– Both Equity and Housing Finance forming holding companies and transferring banking and mortgage business respectively to the new group parents.
– The vicious fallout between BritAm and Cytonn.
Looking forward to
– Unga’s acquisition of Ennsvalley, a bakery worth Kshs 500 million ($5.55 million)
– Uchumi’s rights issue to raise Kshs 895 million ($10 million) by offering shareholders 3 shares for every 8 held at Kshs 9 per share, with the funds to be used for expansion in East Africa and refurbishment of stores.
– Seeing how Mumias Sugar shares proceed..having gone from highs of Kshs 40 in years past, to 1.4 this month.

Gold Cards are 3rd Class

You can stop bragging or flashing your gold credit card now as you settle the bill at your favourite restaurant. Looking at this card comparison chart from Visa, it is now clear that having a gold card is getting lower in the hierarchy of cards to aim for after Infinite, Platinum and then Gold, that’s just above a Classic card . This was made clear when NIC launched platinum cards some months ago and the extensive benefits of the new cardVisa card range were listed..including some that were previously attached to gold.

Visa chart The big change is airport lounge access which Priority Pass attach to Platinum cards, but not to gold cards – and it seems gold cards no longer entitle owners to use airport lounges e.g. at Nairobi or Kigali, but ‏reader, @smandavia says gold is still good at Mombasa airport.

Still it could also be following a global trend where the best that airports have to offer are reserved for passengers flying on first or business class, and those with enough accumulated miles  – regardless of what credit card they have. Curiously, Airtel  Africa premier customers also get access to airport lounges with Priority Pass.

 

Small Hotels in Kenya

This post is inspired by a conversation with Henry who uses his platform Enchanted Landscapes to try to connect uniquely Kenyan tourist attractions, but which don’t fall in the traditional beach & safari package that the country is famous for. Enchanted Landscapes highlights sites like the Koitalel arap Samoei Mausoleum, Wagalla Massacre Site,  Kenyatta Cave (where Kenya’s first president once lived), the Jade Sea of the El Molo, the  Shimoni Slave Caves, the  Stone of Luanda Magere and  KooHotel safebi Fora where Homo Habilis was discovered.

Our discussion was about the type of hotels found around the towns near such sites. How does one find these hotels, what do they cost, and what are the features they should have?

There are many new hotels in Kenya, with some billed as ‘4 star’ ones under construction in Mandera and Machakos, while towns like Eldoret seem to have a new hotel every year from a marathon winner’s investments. There’s demand for these, as all the hotels in some of these towns get filled to capacity when there are events like motor rallies, rugby, church crusades or large weddings.

The ideal hotel for a budget conscious traveller e.g. an Enchanted landscapes local tourist, or company sales person is one that charges rates of about Kshs 1,500 ($17) to Kshs 5,000 ($55) per night

A good guide of if a hotel is suitable is to find out if it is often used by tour van drivers or backpackers. The former have vehicles that cost up to Kshs 6 million ($68,000) that they must guard against damage and petty vandalism that happens in many towns. A hotel slightly on the edge of a town is ideal if it fits the above cost and has secure parking for resident vehicles. It should also have a decent kitchen, and affordable drinks for a quick dinner and quiet short night sleep.

Some peeves of the hoshower cautiontels

  • The (usually friendly) hotel check-in staff don’t communicate all the features of the hotel
  • Some hotel safes, if provided, in the rooms are too small. A hotel safe should be able to store a small laptop computer.
  • The bathroom systems are untested. There are dozens of varieties of plumbing systems in different hotels, but too often; (i) some are very complicated to operate)  (ii) hot water systems don’t work (ii) water does not drain properly and leaks all over the floor
  • TV’s have very poor selection. Usually, it’s one local news channel, CNN on BBC, one movie one, and 3 soccer channels. Hotels should always have a channel for young kids.
  • If the hotel is in town, you often have to put up with very loud music from pubs adjacent, or sometimes from the hotel’s own DJ.