Category Archives: Mumias Sugar

NSE: Share splits and divestures

EA Cables split
The Board of East African Cables which has been riding high atop the stock exchange has recommended a 10 for 1 share split – 20,250,000 of par value 5/= will be split in 202,500,000 of par value 0.5 each.

Shareholders will be asked to approve this (really a formality since the Trancentury Group controls 75% of shares) at an EGM on September 1, books close on September 4, and the new shares will be listed on September 5, 2006.

This is the third company after Kenya Oil and East African Breweries to split their shares, and the others appreciated significantly thereafter. EA Cable shares have already climbed by 10% this week from 364 to 399 per share.

Intriguing, but maybe out of reach for me now since, a typical investment of 10,000 shillings, will yield only 25 shares at the current price of 400 shillings. After the split, this becomes 250 shares of about 40 shillings, which still looks promising.

Mumias Divestiture
As promised in the 2006 budget speech the Government has now begun the process of divesting from Mumias Sugar Company. GoK will sell 18.04% of its’ 38.04% shareholding through an offer for sale on the NSE and parcelling the shares through brokers should be cheaper than going the mwananchi route again. As such they have advertised for transaction adviser/lead broker, legal advisor, reporting accountant, receiving bank, and PR firm to assist with the process with applications expected at the Treasury by 24 August.

Ethanol for Kenya Part II

Thank you for the very informative links, responses, comments, and tips from yesterday’s post on ethanol for Kenya

Some highlights
– Kenyan Pundit on ethanol production efforts in Southern Sudan and our archaic sugar sector (linked by AfroM)
– Mashatall for mentioning in Sasol in South Africa is minting crazy chums selling ethanol
– Anonymous for the link to dogwood energy which included a do-it-yourself (DIY) guide to make ethanol at home
– Persona for noting that Muhoroni’s Agrochemical & Food Co. and other local companies have been producing Ethanol in Kenya for years – and for noting that all the cheap ‘whiskies’ and ‘vodkas’ that we have contain it
– ChumviKiasi for mentioning that switchgrass is the most efficient bio fuel crop

Great Resource
This post from Timbuktu Chronicles contains references to a DIY ethanol kit, how to use solar power to make ethanol, and how to run a petrol engine on ethanol, among others.

More applied brewing
– Sierra Brassiere is a Nairobi restaurant / micro brewery located next to the Panari Hotel (on Mombasa Rd.) that brews and sells two in-house beers (sierra blonde and sierra amber) @ 120 shillings per glass – and if you are there on the right day, you can even get a factory tour of the micro brew process.

– From geishablog a simple guide to how Sake is made in Japan.

Ethanol for Kenya

I was reading this NY Times article on how the US corn sector is abuzz over ethanol production with significant subsidy and incentive support from the government.

After that, I decided to google (Kenya + Ethanol) and was pleasantly surprised to find out that there are moves spearheaded by progressive Mumias Sugar (who already into electricity production) to develop ethanol from sugar. (more here).

Pipe dream or not, it’s good to get started and maybe one day Kenya can be fuel self sufficient like Brazil through local ethanol production.

Infrastructure opportunities

– Mumias Sugar Company seeking assistance in setting up co-generation facility to enable the company to supply 30MW of electricity to the national grid.

– Magadi Soda has tendered for a company to maintain their 146km railway line from Konza to Lake Magadi.

February 3

Jobs

Oriental commercial bank: (formerly Delphis)
– Branch managers
– Head of finance
– Head of internal audit
– Head of technical services
– Head of treasury, foreign exchange, and international banking
– Deputy general manager
Apply through the executive selection division of HLB Zainash Consulting at consult@ashvir.com by February 7

K-Rep Bank
– bank clerks
– business development officers

KADET: The Kenya agency for development of enterprises & technology (KADET) a world vision international subsidiary
– Audit assistant
– Accounts assistant
Apply to kadetrecruit@wvi.org by February 8

UNDP/GOK: public sector reform/development secretariat
– Program coordinator: transformational leadership ethics and values
– Technical coordinator: information and communications
– Program officer: transformational leadership ethics and values
Apply though inmail.kenya@undp.org by February 6

Caritas
– Finance & Administration officer at Caritas, a Roman Catholic aid agency, who will be based in Nairobi, with frequent travel to Sudan and Somaliland. Apply through jobs@caritas-switzerland.org by 12 February

Millennium Villages Project MVP of the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) – based in Kisumu
– Project Manager
– Operations Manager
– Agricultural Coordinator
– Health Coordinator
– Infrastructure Coordinator
– Community Development Coordinator
– Enterprise Coordinator
Apply via icrafhru@cgiar.org by 15 February.

HLSP
HLSP is an international organisation working to improve world health with opportunities in Nairobi
– Business Manager
– Project Officer

Symphony a leading regional IT company
– channel manager
– sales executive
– products & procurement manager
– admin assistant
– senior accountant
– accounts assistant
– system engineer
apply though hrd@symphony.co.ke by 10 February.

Bank News

– IFC will set up a regional credit reference bureau in Nairobi to serve Kenya Uganda Tanzania Rwanda and Burundi.
– CFC will launch a credit card this year.
– Consolidated Bank has added on ATM’s (Kenswitch networked) in Isiolo, Nyeri and Maua.

Corporate News

Half-year corporate results as at December 31

Mumias Sugar: Six-month revenue increased from 6.39 to 6.92 billion shillings despite selling 5% sell sugar and generating 50% less cash. After tax-profit rose from 567m to 774m and the company will pay an interim dividend of .75 per share (last year was .6) to shareholders on March 27

East African Portland: Turnover at the cement company increased from 2.59m to 3.11 billion shillings and after tax profit increased from 252m to 594m shillings. The company will pay an interim divided of 1.3sh per share on March 31. The company’s performance was assisted by the strong shilling versus the Yen in which the bank is servicing a huge loan.

Unga: Turnover was flat – 3.79 billion shillings ( 3.74b in 04) and after tax profit is still low, but increased from 34 to 73 million in the half year.

Sports
Saturday 04 February
3:30 PM AFCON:: QF 3: Nigeria vs Tunisia
4:15 PM 6 Nations:: Ireland vs Italy
5:30 PM Everton vs Man City & SS6 Birmingham vs Arsenal
6:30 PM 6 Nations:: England vs Wales
7:30 PM AFCON:: QF 4: Cameroon vs Ivory Coast
8:00 PM Man Utd vs Fulham
8:15 PM Indoor GP: Stuttgart, Germany
10:15 PM Real Madrid vs Espanol

Sunday 05 February
4:00 PM Tottenham vs Charlton
5:45 PM 6 Nations:: Scotland vs France
6:30 PM Chelsea vs Liverpool

Monday 06 February
2:00 AM ESPN Superbowl XL: Seattle Seahawks vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
7:15 AM Pakistan vs India 1st ODI