Kenya bouncing back, Imara tells investors
13 May 2014 | Investments | General | Imara
After three months of net outflows of foreign funds, Kenya’s stock exchange is bouncing back.
That’s the word to international investors from Imara, the pan-African financial services company that markets a range of Africa-focused equity funds to asset managers in the world’s major financial centres.
Imara’s investment report on East African developments notes that the trend in trading activity at the Nairobi Securities Exchange reversed in April. The market recorded US$16.4 million in net foreign inflows, supported by robust first quarter earnings announcements from Kenyan banks.
Equity Bank reported a 20.6% year-on-year rise in earnings. Non-interest income was up 24% while provisions for bad loans were down by 54%.
Meanwhile, KCB Bank reported a 28.6% rise in earnings and a 12.8 rise in net interest income. Non-interest income was up 19.5%.
Safaricom reported strong full-year revenue and earnings growth of 16.4% and 29.5%, respectively, driven by growth in voice revenue (12%) and non-voice revenue (17%). The company increased the dividend payment by 52%, which implies a pay-out ratio of 83% compared to 71% in FY13.
