NSE gain 11% year-on-year as auto and accessories rebound
Kenya’s Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) emerged among top performing stock markets in Africa last year having gained 11 per cent year-on-year, since onset of Covid-19 in 2020.
This saw the bourse add Sh285 billion in shareholder wealth between January 2021 and December 2021 in a move that sets the stage for a robust bourse in 2022.
Among the biggest gainers is the automobiles and accessories sector with Car and General stocks being the most sought.
The firm spans several industries including industrial, agriculture, construction, finance, retail, domestic, tourism, petroleum, transport, and mining.
“Automobiles and Accessories recorded highest gain of 4.6 percent and Investment services highest loss of 7.4 per cent,” the NSE said in a report.
This saw Car & General quadruple its dividend payout to Sh3.2 per share and even proposed a one-for-one bonus share after posting strong results for the year ended September.
The company had paid a dividend of Sh0.8 per share for the prior year. C&G more than tripled its net income to Sh887.2 million as revenue surged 41.4 percent to Sh17.1 billion.
On a month-to-month basis, the shareholder wealth at the Nairobi Securities Exchange rose by 7 per cent in December 2021. The agricultural counters emerged the second best performers last year.
Most traded
However, Safaricom, KCB, Stanchart, BAT and Equity were the most traded counters accounting for 95 per cent of all activities in the market in the month of December showing the level of risk aversion in the market.
Other companies that gained in the month of December were TPS Eastern Africa, Bamburi, Express, BK Group and Absa.
The best performing stock markets in Africa were Zimbabwe, Zambia, Ghana, Malawi and the West African regional stock market Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières (BRVM) which is the regional stock exchange of the member states of the West African Economic and Monetary Union.
