and other Bank Twits
Twitter is a micro-blogging tool that is really nifty for doing mini-posts, forwards and other remarks that (are on any subject) and are maybe not worthy of a full blog post. Here’s a summary of my week on Twitter where there was some interesting discussions, but so far yet to unravel mysteries at Kenya airways, Safaricom and Athi river mining? and some replies
June 15: nairobbery Reading about a Nairobi scam where people actually throw themselves on the windscreens of slow moving cars and later ask for compensation
Kenya central bank study shows popularity of MPesa; users rate it cheap, fast, reliable & accessible http://tinyurl.com/nozxe3
June 16: Media mystery: what happened to the Bamburi vs. Athi story? there were many reporters there but was story buried? http://tinyurl.com/n2k5o8 replies @nakeel It’s called the power of advertising and who pays your bills..
June 17: Economist says Africa's next country South Sudan "will fail before it has even been born" http://tinyurl.com/kwlw9w
DT Dobie advertising that a Mercedes E200 kompressor is 1796cc and therefore compliant with new Kenya Government rules for Ministers cars
Anti-corruption initiatives falter around Africa http://www.nytimes.com/
Racial Discrimination at World Bank?http://bit.ly/fNXUy
CNBC TV show President Obama killed a fly during an interview. Take it away FOX
Is the Kenya rugby safari sevens tourney over-priced at 1,500 ($19) per season ticket? http://tinyurl.com/m9yhmb
Two new independent (non stockbroker) directors at Nairobi Stock Exchange - NSE Board http://tinyurl.com/n8qqvx
June18 KPLC is going to increase the birth rate in kenya if they keep failing to supply electricity.
June 19: Kenya and Uganda Catholic churches in a race to hell with simultaneous abuse scandals; media coverage in UG is NSFW http://www.redpepper.ug
Michela Wrong to visit the World Bank http://bit.ly/LpJHy
June 20 Discovering the mysterys of white cap, EABLs no.2 that survives recessions without any advertising
replies @coldtusker I didn't say it 'failed' but IMHO its core consumer base isn't GenX but my mzee's generation. What happened to WC lite? White Cap's demographics are skewed to stable, older, wealthier, 'old dogs' market. It has failed among the 'younger' drinkers. @Fintradecapital thats really true. Its drinkers r consistent.
I use nivea creams, but all their posters and adverts scream i am soooĆ² not their target customer!
replies @uhusiano is cos they are all jungus? @coldtusker Are you thinking of doing a chaz bono? re: nivea - not their target market... LOL... @devonwhittle I'm also a Nivea customer, but their "skin whitening" products and ads worry me – @karuoro I use Nivea shower gel but prefer Vaseline lotion..find nivea lotions too..sticky (don't know if that makes sense) @Ethnicsupplies I've never liked the smell @Shiko_Msa we the target customers that is. feel welcome. Even though they dont welcome we do.
Stomping through kilelewshwa - many apartment complexes have 'to let' signs
june 21 Safaricom selling cheap internet ready phones including nokia 1680 for $38 replies @alykhansatchu I was reading that @ thinking 13m Subs converts to 2m x $1.00 a day internet
@coldtusker also former Kenya Airways director is CEO air uganda. Seems KQ is now finishing school for sub-saharan airline bosses. replies @coldtusker Hugh Fraser (ex-KQ now CEO of Air Uganda) was in the very important Commercial Director post @ coldtusker Neil Canty (former CFO-KQ) went to Gulf Air though he has left them for another gig. Africa again?
R/T @airlineroute KLM to operate MD11s on Nairobi-amsterdam for Kenya Airways from july to september! What will the 777s be doing?
Unexpected dividend cheque from stanbic uganda ~$15 in the mail today #migingo
replies @PinkM How do you cash your Stanbic UG cheques?I haven't cashed for 2 years now. Thanks.Will try that. I wish it was possible to bank at CFC Stanbic even for CFC a/c holders
Kenya retain rugby revens title, but Is that DJ CK on pitch with team at #safarisevens? He's kenya's top gate crasher replies @kenyanpundit hehehe, DJ CK was EVERYWHERE at the WEF in Capetown @kachwanya you just made me remember almost similar incident sometime back during Orange launch..yeah he somehow did that
June 22 Kenya' anti-aid author envious of @dambisamoyo http://bit.ly/mBdFg
replies @kainvestor Many African anti-aid champions see sinister agendas in the success of @dambisamoyo. She wasn't the 1st to write against aid >>>
Safaricom shares pick up after managers visit Europe & US fund investment firms http://tinyurl.com/lewfyn #safaricom #investorrelations
Family Bank 25th anniversary
President @mwaikibaki encourages banks to use mobile phones to reach beyond the 22% 'banked' kenyans
Have more twitter followers than feedburner subsribers; what does that mean?
people who vandalised the Kenya Railways Kibera railway, may also have got paid to fix it after http://tinyurl.com/c9ykra
June 23 Any well wishers to donate a PC or laptop to Mamamikes who were recently robbed? http://www.mamamikes.com/bl...
59% of small business owners rely on credit cards for working capital! scary http://preview.tinyurl.com/
Showing posts with label Kenya Railways. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kenya Railways. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Kenya Railways (now RVR)
Besides planes, I am to a lesser extent a train buff who took many trips by train from Nairobi to Mombasa as a kid. During school holidays the overnight train ride was one of my greatest treats. It used to take 12 hours going through the dark countryside, waving at people, counting train cars, and memorizing stations. Later we’d have a good dinner and go sleep when it got boring to wake up in the morning, glad to have put the man eating lions of Tsavo behind us. A full breakfast in the dining car would then set the mood for more watching – looking out for for the first coconut tree, smell the ocean (and then Changamwe) before finally getting to the Mombasa station where my uncle would be there waiting to take us to Kwale for the rest of the holidays.
Needles to say Kenya Railways corporation became a run down shell that is another story in itself. I’ve read enough stories of passengers stuck in the bush when trains break down or derail. Anyway will probably hear u from another tip so . so when the Institute of Economic Affairs invited Mr. Roy Puffet, the MD of Rift Valley Railways I was briefly there to hear what was said
Some snippets (I was late to the event) \
New start: RVR is a 25 year concession between a consortium of companies and the governments so Kenya and Uganda.
RVR got off to a start in November 2006 and suffered 61 derailments that month. They have since slowed down all their trains as a measure to contain such incidents. They now average 10 – 12 incidents a month - from a combination of equipment, railway and human failures (including sabotage)
Financial & investment: So far the consortium has invested about $18 million The shareholding is 70% foreign (Sheltam, and an Australian company) and 30% local (Transcentury – 20%, ICDCI – 10%) and some financing was sourced from the IFC.
Some attendees later asked why Kenyans were not given a chance to invest in the company (like the Kengen IPO) to which the MD replied that there were not a lot of investors rushing to build railways in Africa (only 2 groups bid for the concession) .
Equipment: RVR inherited 174 locomotives from Kenya (55 were working) and 44 from Uganda (25 operational) . also 46% of the 7,000 wagons were usable.
They have focuses n getting a working fleet going. This has entailed reducing the fleet to contain only trains in good condition and they also got back 5 locomotives from Magadi soda. Fleet repair is slow as the company faces a lead time of 8 month for locomotive spares.
Their workshops were run down, with no tools or equipment, and many of the sheds had long been taken over by other businesses. The remaining sheds had leaking roofs, and when it rained they had to stop maintenance work for fear of electrocution.
Railway: Demand from china for steel has driven steel prices through the roof. There are few companies making railway parts (and African countries have a different railway size) so it takes about 8 months to deliver (they have to order 4,000 tons at a go) which is expensive. One engineer (from the UK) at the talk said that such a railway would be shut down with all the incidents if it was in Europe - the MD replied probably true but this was the state of things. He added that new rails were be laid on the Mombasa - Nairobi line after which the older ones will be taken out and used for other upcountry lines.
They will also close some stations (there are 50+ stations between Nairobi and Mombasa) and have installed communication's and tracking systems on all trains and stations
Operations RVR have done quite well since they took over in November 2006 and move about 200,000 tons per month. While this has not changed much in volume from before the concession, they are achieving this with two differences (i) they are using a smaller fleet (ii) and they are collecting more revenue (from increased efficiency & reducued corruption in revenue collection) – about $6m a month. Their volumes dipped in December and April following flooding from the rains. The MD mentioned that they now take between 4 – 7 days to move cargo from Mombasa to Kampala – from 20+ days before, though some members of the Kenya Shippers Association disputed that there.
Other stakeholders
Employees those not retrenched by the company are all being retrained in safety and modern railway processes
customers While there have been complaints about the slow movement from the Mombasa port (including by the Kenya Ports Authority) , the MD said that 50% of the 14,000 containers at the Mombasa port don't have proper documentation.
He added that business people were contributors to this i.e. as a result of the past railway inefficiency, companies had taken to using railway train wagons at Mombasa as extra storage facilities. But when the railway movement improved, and cargo was now moved upcountry, the same businessmen took their time to offload goods, creating more congestion.
They have tried to contain prices and their charges ($0.05 per ton per km) compare well with , truck cos taken ad of rail inefficiency to jack up prices
Passengers & commuters: they will run commuter train services (in Nairobi) for 5 years, but this is one thing none of the bidders for the concession wanted to continue running – as it is a loss maker.
Kenya railways : The corporation still exists and will oversee the concession on behalf of the government of Kenya, while also maintaining a register of railway assets. The corporation still has a great burden from the past – illustrated by Kshs 31 billion of debts (about $600 million). Including a 12 billion pension deficit. They hope to use land sales to pay off their employee (and perhaps supplier) obligations while also talking with the governments to waive some debt. They have also received 1 billion shillings form the world bank to resettle some residents in Kibera who live/work too close to the railway line (but this plan/financing is already 1/ ½ years behind schedule)
summary
The MD mentioned that there was a lot of expectations about the now concessioned railways – some of which were not close to being realistic. He also added that they had fewer customers as a result of the slow uptake by the concession, but added that RVR had no regrets and that the governments of Kenya and Uganda were very supportive.
So, a rough but promising start by the company who now say they have enough locomotives working to achieve their 5 year targets. Will they be a celebrated success like Safaricom? We'll know in a few years.
Needles to say Kenya Railways corporation became a run down shell that is another story in itself. I’ve read enough stories of passengers stuck in the bush when trains break down or derail. Anyway will probably hear u from another tip so . so when the Institute of Economic Affairs invited Mr. Roy Puffet, the MD of Rift Valley Railways I was briefly there to hear what was said
Some snippets (I was late to the event) \
New start: RVR is a 25 year concession between a consortium of companies and the governments so Kenya and Uganda.
RVR got off to a start in November 2006 and suffered 61 derailments that month. They have since slowed down all their trains as a measure to contain such incidents. They now average 10 – 12 incidents a month - from a combination of equipment, railway and human failures (including sabotage)
Financial & investment: So far the consortium has invested about $18 million The shareholding is 70% foreign (Sheltam, and an Australian company) and 30% local (Transcentury – 20%, ICDCI – 10%) and some financing was sourced from the IFC.
Some attendees later asked why Kenyans were not given a chance to invest in the company (like the Kengen IPO) to which the MD replied that there were not a lot of investors rushing to build railways in Africa (only 2 groups bid for the concession) .
Equipment: RVR inherited 174 locomotives from Kenya (55 were working) and 44 from Uganda (25 operational) . also 46% of the 7,000 wagons were usable.
They have focuses n getting a working fleet going. This has entailed reducing the fleet to contain only trains in good condition and they also got back 5 locomotives from Magadi soda. Fleet repair is slow as the company faces a lead time of 8 month for locomotive spares.
Their workshops were run down, with no tools or equipment, and many of the sheds had long been taken over by other businesses. The remaining sheds had leaking roofs, and when it rained they had to stop maintenance work for fear of electrocution.
Railway: Demand from china for steel has driven steel prices through the roof. There are few companies making railway parts (and African countries have a different railway size) so it takes about 8 months to deliver (they have to order 4,000 tons at a go) which is expensive. One engineer (from the UK) at the talk said that such a railway would be shut down with all the incidents if it was in Europe - the MD replied probably true but this was the state of things. He added that new rails were be laid on the Mombasa - Nairobi line after which the older ones will be taken out and used for other upcountry lines.
They will also close some stations (there are 50+ stations between Nairobi and Mombasa) and have installed communication's and tracking systems on all trains and stations
Operations RVR have done quite well since they took over in November 2006 and move about 200,000 tons per month. While this has not changed much in volume from before the concession, they are achieving this with two differences (i) they are using a smaller fleet (ii) and they are collecting more revenue (from increased efficiency & reducued corruption in revenue collection) – about $6m a month. Their volumes dipped in December and April following flooding from the rains. The MD mentioned that they now take between 4 – 7 days to move cargo from Mombasa to Kampala – from 20+ days before, though some members of the Kenya Shippers Association disputed that there.
Other stakeholders
Employees those not retrenched by the company are all being retrained in safety and modern railway processes
customers While there have been complaints about the slow movement from the Mombasa port (including by the Kenya Ports Authority) , the MD said that 50% of the 14,000 containers at the Mombasa port don't have proper documentation.
He added that business people were contributors to this i.e. as a result of the past railway inefficiency, companies had taken to using railway train wagons at Mombasa as extra storage facilities. But when the railway movement improved, and cargo was now moved upcountry, the same businessmen took their time to offload goods, creating more congestion.
They have tried to contain prices and their charges ($0.05 per ton per km) compare well with , truck cos taken ad of rail inefficiency to jack up prices
Passengers & commuters: they will run commuter train services (in Nairobi) for 5 years, but this is one thing none of the bidders for the concession wanted to continue running – as it is a loss maker.
Kenya railways : The corporation still exists and will oversee the concession on behalf of the government of Kenya, while also maintaining a register of railway assets. The corporation still has a great burden from the past – illustrated by Kshs 31 billion of debts (about $600 million). Including a 12 billion pension deficit. They hope to use land sales to pay off their employee (and perhaps supplier) obligations while also talking with the governments to waive some debt. They have also received 1 billion shillings form the world bank to resettle some residents in Kibera who live/work too close to the railway line (but this plan/financing is already 1/ ½ years behind schedule)
summary
The MD mentioned that there was a lot of expectations about the now concessioned railways – some of which were not close to being realistic. He also added that they had fewer customers as a result of the slow uptake by the concession, but added that RVR had no regrets and that the governments of Kenya and Uganda were very supportive.
So, a rough but promising start by the company who now say they have enough locomotives working to achieve their 5 year targets. Will they be a celebrated success like Safaricom? We'll know in a few years.
Sunday, June 03, 2007
KPLC unbundled
A new company will be spun off from the Kenya Power and Lighting Company once PricewaterhouseCoopers complete a review and formulate a balance sheet for the new transmission company.
RVR shutdown: Kenya Ports Authority has ended a contract with Rift Valley Railways for non performance. What ails the company that has invested so much in new trains? Well the actual railway is still run by Kenya railways who have not seen any significant investment in years (but who have just advertised for a new MD)
Other Madaraka Jobs
most from the papers
Aureos Kenya a private equity funds is seeking investment professionals. Apply by
20/6 the managing partner at 43233-00100 Nairobi.
British airways: Trade sales manager east Africa, Corporate sales manager East Africa. Apply to hcapjobs@wananchi.com by 8/6
Investment Research Consultants at Kaimana Consulting to evaluate investment opportunities in the emerging markets of Eastern Africa. Apply to jobs@kaimanaconsulting.com.
RVR shutdown: Kenya Ports Authority has ended a contract with Rift Valley Railways for non performance. What ails the company that has invested so much in new trains? Well the actual railway is still run by Kenya railways who have not seen any significant investment in years (but who have just advertised for a new MD)
Other Madaraka Jobs
most from the papers
Aureos Kenya a private equity funds is seeking investment professionals. Apply by
20/6 the managing partner at 43233-00100 Nairobi.
British airways: Trade sales manager east Africa, Corporate sales manager East Africa. Apply to hcapjobs@wananchi.com by 8/6
Investment Research Consultants at Kaimana Consulting to evaluate investment opportunities in the emerging markets of Eastern Africa. Apply to jobs@kaimanaconsulting.com.
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
Business Briefs
KISS FM firings
Another round of media musical chairs, this time at KISS FM. Most of them should land jobs at other media houses, further confusing listeners who tend to associate the personalities with particular stations. Last month it was Nation TV which poached several personalities from KTN.
Kenya Railways Privatization Plan
Seven bidders have been given till June 15 to submit their proposals to the government to manage KR, and the winner will be announced December 15th. The government has asked the bidders to consider the following in their proposals; (i) retain KR’s 9,000 worker until a WB retrenchment plan is adopted (ii) double the volume of cargo carried by KR within 5 years (iii) sign a performance management contract. The bidders have in turn agreed to increase KR’s capacity by 20% a year, and have all expressed no interest in continuing any passenger traffic on KR.
Nation Media Group
Turnover at the NMG increased from 4.5 billion in 2003 to 4.9 billion in 2004, and net profit increased from 602 to 641 million shillings (12 shillings EPS). They will pay a 100% divided (5 shillings per share?) and in addition shareholders will receive one bonus share for each three they hold as at May 2005.
Unilever Tea Kenya
Posted a 360m profit, up from 62 million in 2003, attributing it to better tea sales, improvements in production and favorable exchange rates. The profit comes to an earning per share (EPS)of 7.39 for the year, of which they will pay 6 shillings as a dividend. In 2003, they also paid 6 shilling divided, but on earnings per share 1.27 shillings only.
Uchumi
Uchumi lost 632 million in the last six months of 2004, compared to a loss of 217 million in the same period last year. Their turnover also reduced from 4.3 billion to 3 billion. They are renewing their inventory, and will dispose of land, buildings & non-core assets to raise 900 million shillings for debt and creditor repayments.
Another round of media musical chairs, this time at KISS FM. Most of them should land jobs at other media houses, further confusing listeners who tend to associate the personalities with particular stations. Last month it was Nation TV which poached several personalities from KTN.
Kenya Railways Privatization Plan
Seven bidders have been given till June 15 to submit their proposals to the government to manage KR, and the winner will be announced December 15th. The government has asked the bidders to consider the following in their proposals; (i) retain KR’s 9,000 worker until a WB retrenchment plan is adopted (ii) double the volume of cargo carried by KR within 5 years (iii) sign a performance management contract. The bidders have in turn agreed to increase KR’s capacity by 20% a year, and have all expressed no interest in continuing any passenger traffic on KR.
Nation Media Group
Turnover at the NMG increased from 4.5 billion in 2003 to 4.9 billion in 2004, and net profit increased from 602 to 641 million shillings (12 shillings EPS). They will pay a 100% divided (5 shillings per share?) and in addition shareholders will receive one bonus share for each three they hold as at May 2005.
Unilever Tea Kenya
Posted a 360m profit, up from 62 million in 2003, attributing it to better tea sales, improvements in production and favorable exchange rates. The profit comes to an earning per share (EPS)of 7.39 for the year, of which they will pay 6 shillings as a dividend. In 2003, they also paid 6 shilling divided, but on earnings per share 1.27 shillings only.
Uchumi
Uchumi lost 632 million in the last six months of 2004, compared to a loss of 217 million in the same period last year. Their turnover also reduced from 4.3 billion to 3 billion. They are renewing their inventory, and will dispose of land, buildings & non-core assets to raise 900 million shillings for debt and creditor repayments.
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