Equity stock unit beats six rivals in NSE share trades

Equity Investment Bank (EIB) jumped to second place in stockbrokers’ equity trades on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) in the first half of the year, replacing Russian-owned Renaissance Capital (Rencap) that held the position at the end of last December. EIB rode on increased foreign investor trades and huge block transactions involving institutional investors in commercial lender Equity Bank to come second after Kestrel Capital in the latest data. Last December, EIB was in position eight while Kestrel still held the top place…[...]

US firm to set up Turkana wind power plant

US company Solar Wind Energy Tower (Swet) has signed a deal to develop a 1,250MW power plant in Turkana County, boosting Kenya’s access to clean energy. The Maryland-based firm announced that it had entered into an agreement with Elperta Industries of Greece to develop a power plant, known as tower facility, in Turkana for an undisclosed amount. Under the agreement, Elperta Industries will finance and construct the power station using Swet’s patented technology. In exchange, the US firm will earn royalties from electricity sales generated from the plant…[...]

HF half-year profit up 2.2pc as sales slow and bad debts surge

Slower property sales and higher bad debts saw mortgage lender Housing Finance net profit increase by a marginal 2.2 per cent in the half-year ended June. The firm’s net profit rose to Sh485.1 million in the period, about Sh10.7 million more than the earnings reported in the first six months of last year. HF maintained its dividend payout ratio at 45 per cent, declaring an interim payment of Sh0.65 per share…[...]

Canadian, UK gold miners raise cash to finance Kenya operations

Two gold explorers have raised cash from sale of shares in the past one month to finance work on their Migori-based mines. Canadian miner Stockport Exploration and UK-based Red Rock Resources have raised a combined Sh23.5 million for their western Kenya operations. Stockport Exploration raised Sh11.6 million by selling 2.8 million shares at four Canadian cents each through a private placement offer, bringing the total amount the firm has raised since October last year to Sh112 million. The company raised Sh100 million from Kenyan investors last October…[...]

Bharti spares Airtel Kenya in talks to sell Africa units

Indian telco Bharti Airtel has announced that it is negotiating the possible sale of its subsidiaries in Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo Brazzaville and Sierra Leone to France’s Orange, in a transaction that spares its Kenyan business. Bharti, India’s largest mobile telco, has entered into an exclusive deal to explore the options of selling the four businesses to its rival Orange, in its ongoing divestiture from loss-making Africa. Airtel Kenya, one of the African businesses that Bharti took over from Zain in 2010, is not in the new list of subsidiaries that the Indian firm is keen on selling in the coming months…[...]

Coffee prices up 21.6pc on high quality yields, demand at NCE

The average coffee prices rose by 21.6 per cent Tuesday due to a high quality crop from farmers and demand at the weekly auction. The Nairobi Coffee Exchange (NCE) registered the first significant increase in prices after it resumed from a one-month recess two weeks ago. A 50-kilogramme bag of coffee traded at $186 (Sh18,972) from the $153 (Sh15,606) that it fetched during last week’s auction…[...]