HFCK ESOP

At the company’s AGM later this month, shareholders of the Housing Finance Company of Kenya (HFCK) will be asked to approve the creation of an employee share ownership plan (ESOP) unit trust. This plan will benefit from a tax incentive for ESOP’s announced in the budget speech last month and follows in the steps of Kenol and EABL as a way to motivate and retain employees.

To avoid causing friction, the ESOP shares will be bought from the stock exchange and will not dilute existing shareholdings. No mention yet if there will be a separate plan for executives.

Mid week business

IPO
The Scangroup IPO has been officially announced, but with a rather short window for investors to prepare (opens July 17 closes July 28).

While advertising is a fickle industry, the company seems to be a good bet since it controls over half of the media buying market and had revenue and profits of 2.3 billion and 200 million respectively last year.

It should not be as euphoric as Kengen, the hangover of which is still being felt by the investment community – and one lesson learnt is that an allocation criterion has been set to secure the interest of institutional investors who were all locked out of Kengen. They and corporations will get 45%, individuals 50% and 5% of the floated shares will go to staff.

Bonus share
Express (K) announced a share bonus at a rate of 1: 10 to shareholders of record as at 13th July.

Uchumi update
A suppliers group being coordinated by the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) has been informed that identification of an impeccable management team has been the main delay in the reopening of the company stores. (franchise Uchumi stores remained open). Suppliers have been asked to secure their interests by registering with the “Uchumi action” group and pay 10,000 towards lawyer and other movement expenses.

Miss the bus?
There are virtually no buses of the struggling KBS/Bustrack company on the road this month (anyone seen one?).

Broadband
Telkom Kenya launches Kenstream broadband wireless today.

– Also, the Minister of Finance has granted a special tax waiver for the about-to-be-retrenched employees at Telkom – one condition of which is that they can’t resume work/or consult for the company for a period of 3 years.

Education
The Tropical Institute of Community Health in Kisumu will convert into a new private university to be known as the Great Lakes University.

Housing
A new housing project known as Neema Estate, comprising 450 1 to 3 bedroom bungalows in Lukenya (located on the Nairobi – Kangundo road).

– Meanwhile a recent tribunal decision has given Jamii Bora Trust the go-ahead to continue with a slum resettlement project. Jamii Bora had sought to construct 2,000 low-cost homes at about 150,000 shillings each to settle 2,000 families (i.e. about 10,000 people) from the Nairobi slums of Kibera Mathare and Soweto in a new town to be called Kaputiei on 293 acres in Isinya, Kajiado. The town will be located 60km south of Nairobi, bordered to North by Nairobi National Park and to the South by the Magadi-Mombasa railway.

The Trust sued the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) who had blocked the project saying it would adversely affect the environment and community. NEMA received objections to the Jamii project from Masai communities & area residents (who welcomed the town development but not slum dwellers), the Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) & other wildlife bodies who argues that the land was part of the wildfire migratory corridor into the park. The land was currently sustained by lease agreement where the KWS paid Masai communities $4 per acre or about $400 – 800 per household per year as accommodation for wildlife.

The Tribunal found that the residents who opposed were not representative of the entire community and that the project had the support of church groups, AMFI, and had also received approval from other government sectors. The tribunal also deemed the area as no longer viable for wildlife owing to nearby human development.

One troubling verdict of the decision noted by the tribunal is that the influx of residents is likely to alter voting patterns and create hostilities, something the tribunal feels would be alleviated by voter education. Also, it will be tough for workers who settle here to commute to their jobs in Nairobi.

Tourism
– A new Tourist lodge in Buffalo Springs reserve in Samburu with 52 bedrooms and 12 luxury tents.

– Baobab Beach Resort in Ukunda will add 84 rooms to its 188 existing ones.

– Oltome Mara Campat Koyaki ranch, a semi-permanent tented camp will be set up in the Mara for Christian tourists visiting Kenya on religious missions.

BARS for Sale

The Weekly Citizen reports that Barclays has put up its troubled Barclays Advisory and Registrar Services (BARS) unit up for sale. There have been numerous complaints at recent AGM’s of poor/slow shareholder services at BARS, which has also weathered a long-running fraud case regarding dormant shareholder funds.

Book Villa Anniversary

A year ago, I joined Book Villa – and I when I renewed my membership today, I also got a chronological statement today listing all the books I have read over the last year.

I started off with a mix of my favourite authors such as Nelson Demille and Lee Child, in the beginning but later on diversified into others books, mostly autobiographies, business, stock and financial books.

The statement also shows that I had borrowed about 20 books worth 10,000 shillings all for an initial investment of 1,500 shillings (i.e. one time 500 joining fee, and annual fee of 1,000).

The number of books is lower than I expected, but it’s because I drive more these days – whereas before I used to do most of my reading in a matatu, now it’s in loo.

Also I try and buy all my magazines (I estimate about 2,000 shillings worth) at Book Villa as a way to give back for this tremendous opportunity. The store has a vast collection of books and friendly staff, who are knowledgeable about the location & availability of books, which they can even hold for you. Definitely one of the best investments I have made.

Bankers Predict the World Cup

In March this year, an Economics team made some interesting predictions about the now on-going World Cup. While the likely outcome then was that Brazil would defeat France in the final, the team predicted that the entire world economy would benefit most from Italy defeating Germany in the final 3 – 1. Interesting read, since Italy, Germany and France are all in the semis now. (PDF here)