Equity’s returns on shareholder funds seen falling

Regional lender Equity Bank could be headed for lower returns on shareholder funds as it doubles bad debt provisions and margins on interest income fall. As Equity grows its loan book, the analysts say, the return on equity (ROE) — used to measure profitability — will fall from 29.7 per cent achieved in 2014 to 25.8 per cent in 2017 [...]

CBK in Sh25bn bond tap sales after oversubscribed infrastructure issue

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) on Wednesday began tap sales of the Sh25 billion bond on the same terms, days after it was oversubscribed. The 12-year Sh25 billion infrastructure bond auctioned last week was oversubscribed 106 per cent indicating investor appetite for primary securities as T-Bills were also oversubscribed. Infrastructure bonds tend to attract heavy demand, including from foreign investors, since they are tax-free, and are amortised (paid) over the period of issue [...]

HF contracts global consultant in drive to reform business

Mortgage lender Housing Finance (HF) has hired global consultancy firm McKinsey & Company to help restructure its business, including the formation of a stand-alone banking subsidiary. The firm is in the middle of creating a non-operating holding company which will own all subsidiaries including Housing Finance Company, a new banking entity being created. Unlike a bank, a non-operating holding company can own more than a quarter of an institution, eliminating restrictions that HF has faced in terms of funding and ownership of other units such as Kenya Building Society [...]

MultiChoice plans annual rise in subscription fees over costs

MultiChoice Africa, the owner of pay- TV brand DStv, has warned its subscribers of annual fee increments in what it blames on higher operating costs. This means that DStv subscribers should expect their bills to rise steadily going forward, inflating their overall entertainment budgets [...]

Equatorial Bank chief out as Mwalimu Sacco seeks turnaround

The chief executive of Equatorial Commercial Bank (ECB) Sammy Itemere has left the institution, marking the first major change effected by the new majority owner Mwalimu Sacco. Besides hiring a new CEO, Mwalimu is expected to appoint other directors to the board of ECB to reflect its controlling stake [...]

EABL exits glass bottles business, eyes billions from subsidiary sale

EABL says it will transfer all its shares in Central Glass Industries—its 28-year-old subsidiary from which it sources beer and spirits bottles— to Johannesburg-based Consol Glass. East African Breweries Limited (EABL) is set to earn billions of shillings from the sale [...]

CA gets State support in powers quest

Airtel’s bid to have Safaricom declared dominant got a boost after  ICT secretary Fred Matiang’i declared support for the industry regulator’s move to obtain new legal powers to investigate abuse in the telecommunications sector. The proposed set of 11 regulations meant to come into force by mid-June include a Fair Competition and Equality of Treatment clause that empowers the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) to automatically declare any telecommunication firm with a market share of more than 50 per cent as dominant [...]

Kenyan solar company wins global grant

Kenya-based Givewatts is among nine companies that will receive the Abraaj Growth Markets Grant. It was chosen from a global pool of 178 firms. The grant targets organisations that offer unique solutions to communities in emerging markets. Givewatts supplies solar powered lamps to schools that are not connected to the national grid in Laikipia [...]