By Peter Kaujju

THE New Vision shares yesterday hit an all-time-high of sh1,000 on the Uganda Securities Exchange up from sh970 on Tuesday.

Sh8.1m was recorded in turnover after 8,100 shares exchanged hands.

The share price is now five times above the Initial Public Offering.
“It is a combination of issues ranging from the approval of the rights issue by the shareholders and the company’s diversification in the media industry,” said Kenneth Kitariko, investment analysts with African Alliance
“But generally, the market is rallying on all counters.”

The latest surge in share price comes two weeks after the company announced that it would issue more shares to raise money to finance its multi-billion shilling expansion plans.

The company is expanding its printing capacity and diversifying into electronic media, with the radio station hitting the airwaves tomorrow.

“We are doing a rights issue because we need to to raise capital for investments and make our shareholders richer,” Robert Kabushenga, the chief executive officer of The Vision Group, said recently.

With the rights-issue, the current shareholders will have priority to buy the new shares at a discount.
During the firm’s annual general meeting, shareholders unanimously backed the proposal to increase the share capital to 76.5 million shares from 51 million.

The New Vision’s turnover increased from sh29.6b to sh33b in 2006/07, a growth of 11%.

In 2007, a pre-tax profit of sh4.6b and a growth of 27% were realised, according to statements.