Saturday, May 03, 2008

Regional banks and dueling websites

Diamond Trust Bank will this month ask their to approve
- participation of the bank in a rights issue of their Ugandan subsidiary
- Approve expansion to Burundi (odd or smart considering that other banks have focused on Rwanda)

dueling web sites

DTB new corp name have a new website but they should probably map /discontinue their old site or it may give the impression that its another company that doesn’t bother to update its website.

KCB who are also going to increase their capital to support regional expansion, and cross listing on the stock exchanges in Tanzania and Uganda, have consolidated their company to a group website, abandoning their kcb.co.ke

Also caught up in the confusion of domains between (.co.ke) and (.com) is the Safaricom IPO. The former is the official site, which applicants could use to apply online for shares. The government should have cracked down on transaction adviser - Dyer & Blair who opened the latter site and may have created some confusion. Though more active and up to date (even has a blog of sorts), the Dyer site attracted people who thought it was the official site and some confused investors have been logging in their to track their applications without realizing that it is not the official site

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

sorry to go off kilter... i really want to buy a life insurance policy.... but cant get info on exactly which.... iearn arouund 50k... want to put in about 5k max. what essentially shuld i be looking for? i am scared becuase of all the horror stories i have heard about insurance companies. some one knowledgeable like u banks pointers please.

ps. i generally consider myself well informed hence the scared bit... i might even be ua finace minister.... :')

Unknown said...

...mine is also way off topic.. some future topic suggestions:

What's your take on the Kenyan economic indicators any predictions on effect on stock market (read safcom share price)?

Just trying to put the pieces together... interelationship between:

- Outlook of Kenya GDP in 3-6 yrs
- CPI and inflation issues.
- Exchange Rate hypotheses.
- Effect of Global slow down on foreign investors in general (opportunity for Kenya).
- Foreign interest in frontier markets and how kenya fares (S&P ratings et al)
- Saturation in Emerging Markets
- Predictions on political issues (whats the view on 2012 from an investor perspective - perhaps a panic bear-run prior to elections? and we have a new referendum coming up, would the optimism generated by a new constitution trigger a bull-run?)
- other interesting indicators?

etc etc. I know, Am too lazy to do my own blog...

Anyway I am not selling Safcom shares anything for less than $1 per share. I'll wait a few years if I have to!

:-)

Anonymous said...

To Anonymous:
First of, how old are you? If at least 60 yrs old, then buy the insurance, otherwise its a waste of your money. Why not create an emergency fund, including buying some stock, mutal funds?

bankelele said...

Maishinski:

lets's look at what can go wrong/go right this year and affect GDP
go right
- government lowers tax on fuel to ease economic pinch
- End of IPO reveals a high profile investor like prince alwaleed, george soros or even bill gates and warren buffet giving a boost to sub-Saharan stock exchanges
- Coalition works to tackle land, constitution, resettlement, and electoral issues

go wrong
- rising inflation leads to riots over escalating food and fuel prices (happening in many african countries as we speak)
- prominent politician passes on
- Another stockbroker collapses
so 50:50

on safcom, Bdaily had an interstign take last week that the Governemnt may cede more shares to (i) satisfy retail investors (ii) keep their cash and raise more than the 50b shillings they sought (iii) realise that with 4 mobile operators, safaricom may not remain the crown jewel for many more years

Unknown said...

The thing about mobile industry is that the dominant player can easily retain their leading position - and still deal a devastating blow to competitors.

Barriers are not just financial - but psychological and social. Why switch, if all your friends and relaz are on safcom? Safcom guarantees this by refusing to negotiate lower interconnectivity charges with Celtel (and whoever else will come in).

If a price war ensues, it will be so easy for Safcom to suddenly crush its opponents by choking their margins and cashflow. They already have critical mass.

Think of what happens when someone discovers they can make free calls on safcom... it spreads like wildfire and people just call for the sake of it. Same thing would happen if calls were 5/- for a month. It will be an unofficial Nationwide boycott of all other providers.

Already, by ignoring Celtel's price war provocation, they have indirectly slammed celtel's profit margins and increased Celtel's risk of inadvertently tricking itself into a cash flow crunch.

Remember the KBL / Castle war? How did KBL drive out castle yet they were the only two major players in the industry?

Unknown said...

oh and dont forget Mobitelea...

These are powerful individuals - possibly already extremely wealthy and who may not necessary want to offload their stake - power and long term influence being more attractive.

Most likely mobitelea will increase their stake to get some heavier influence on Safcom - which, strange as it might sound, is a good thing...

Safcome Competitors better be ready for the political cat & mouse games taht Castle breweries faced.

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