Activity on the bourse picks up

By Samuel Sanya

Activity on the share markets has continued to climb with an impressive sh580m worth of Stanbic shares traded on Tuesday.

“We are likely to see more such large turnover volumes on the share markets towards the end of March and April when the banks release their end of year financial results,” said Arthur Nsiko, a securities trader with African Alliance Uganda.

Stanbic Bank traded 19 million shares at sh30 per share with a massive 51 million bids outstanding against zero outstanding supply.

Stanbic Bank’s before tax profits have hit sh178b, increasing 9% at the end of the year 2012 due to higher interest on deposits and placements, loans and advances and gains on trading securities.

The banks’ profits grew from sh164b, a year before. Consequently, the bank paid out sh70b in dividends, up from sh50 million the year before. Market players expect an even larger dividend payout this year.

Umeme traded 74,000 shares for sh27m at sh365 per share. Uganda Clays traded 50,000 shares worth sh1.5m at sh30 per share and Baroda traded 63,000 shares worth sh7.2m at sh115 per share. The All-share Index jumped to sh1550 from sh1518.

The Local share Index also increased to sh261 from sh247 on Monday. Volumes traded on the share markets have continued to rise week-on-week, with the turnover from December 16-20 rising to sh1.7b from sh1.14b the week before.

The number of shares traded increased to 52 million from 30 million during the same period. However, activity dropped at the end of the year between December 30, 2013 and January 3, shortly after the Christmas holiday season.

Turnover dropped to sh7b from sh25.6b the week before. The number of shares traded stood at 281,049,891, less than 897,977,890 that were traded the previous week.

Major developments last year The year was quite active, with some key deals being signed before the year closed.

The year started with the sale of 111.9 million shares of dfcu Bank worth 111.9b to Dutch bank - Rabo Development B.V and Norfund, a Norwegian development agency.

Shortly after, Uchumi, a Kenyan based supermarket chain, cross listed on the Uganda Securities Exchange, listing about 265 million ordinary shares in Uganda with a nominal value of Ksh5 (about sh150) per share. The shares are now selling at sh578 on the Uganda Securities. Uchumi intends to carry out a rights issue later in the year 2014 to fund an ambitious growth plan.