Weekly outlook at the NSE

The big Bbreaking story this morning which was that the Abraaj Group has agreed to buy Java House from Emerging Capital Partners

ECP bought 90 per cent of Java House in May 2012, with Ashley retaining the remaining 10 per cent. They have grown the company from 13 Nairobi outlets in early 2012 to 60 across Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. Ashish Patel, the head of Abraaj’s east Africa office, said the group was likely to hold Java for about five years and during that time would like to grow it to “several multiples” of its current size.

“We have geographical opportunities, we have different themed opportunities,” he said. “The Kenyan market is not just about coffee.''

The Abraaj Group says Java House Serves 320,000 guest per month.

The price was not disclosed but is expected to be around $100m.

A listing at the NSE must be part of the Abraaj Plan.

SA's Global Credit Ratings has withdrawn the national scale ratings assigned to Nakumatt Holdings.

Thika Road Mall (TRM), attached large amounts of the supermarket’s goods and equipment seeking to recover Sh51 million in rent arrears.

“It’s fair to say we have a perfect storm happening in Kenya, with elections, a credit crunch, @Nakumatt ”

the Wall Street Journal quoted a Patel.

Barclays Bank announced the shuttering of seven branches.

Safaricom has appointed Kenya Commercial Bank Group as a trust account holder for its mobile financial service M-Pesa.

The Nairobi All Share closed 0.29 points lower at Sh152.63. After running up to a 23 month high, the All Share has posted a four session losing streak. The Nairobi NSE20 Index closed 23.77 points lower at 3583.41.

Equity Turnover was lackadaisical at 394.793 million.

Williamson Tea reported full year earnings where it reported a full year loss after tax of Sh261.59 million compared to a full year profit of Sh482.74 million the previous year. Williamson Tea said this in their commentary:

''Prices have been generally weak through the year but as very high crops were followed by low crops, prices increased in the final quarter of the year.''

Williamson trades at an egregious discount to its net asset value. Williamson Tea rowed back 5.26 per cent to close at Sh183.00 on 28,500 shares traded.

Safaricom was the most actively traded share at the Exchange and firmed 1.1 per cent to close at Sh23.00 and traded 8.144m shares. Safaricom is solidly underpinned at 20.10 per cent and will proceed towards Sh28.00, in my opinion.

WPP-ScanGroup eased 1.23 per cent to close at 20.00 and traded good volume of 1.699 million shares. ScanGroup is 6.66 per cent over five sessions and on meaningful volumes.

Uchumi firmed +2.32% to close at 2.20 and was trading limit up 9.30 per cent and at Sh2.35 at the finish Line. The news emanating out of Nakumatt surely was the catalyst for today's good volume of 1.275 million shares higher.

Kenya Airways rebounded +2.97 per cent to close at Sh5.20.

Co-operative Bank corrected 12.83 per cent lower to close at Sh14.85 and after the bonus share issue closed last Friday, and traded 1.34 million shares. KCB Group closed unchanged at Sh37.75 and traded 796,800 shares with better offers by a Factor of four to one. Barclays Bank eased 1.01 per cent on light volume to close at Sh9.85. Barclays Bank is +8.24 per cent in 2017.

Albert Mugo, MD KenGen, said since 2012, over 500 innovation ideas have been submitted through the G2G Innovation Seminar with 98 undergoing implementation, This has resulted in revenue generation and cost savings amounting to over Ksh1 billion in the last financial year. KenGen rebounded +2.51 per cent to close a 8.15 and traded 614,500 shares. Kenyan has posted a blistering first half return of 40.51 per cent.

Bamburi Cement turned 1.61 per cent higher to close at Sh189.00 and traded 142,500 shares. Bamburi Cement is 18.12 per cent in 2017.