A boon for Dar stockmarket as profits rise, NSE’s decline
Monday February 19 2018
The Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange’s net profit for the fourth quarter of 2017 rose by almost 50 per cent, attributed to a doubling of transaction fees.
The Nairobi Securities Exchange’s turnover on the other hand dipped by 34 per cent due to uncertainty created by a prolonged electioneering period.
According to the DSE financial statement, the stockmarket’s net profit rose to $478,000, from $324,252 over the same period in 2016.
“This surge in profit was as a result of an increase in the transaction fees in this quarter, from $99,281 to $ 250,773. Our operating revenue also went up to $103,523, from $4,794,” the statement notes.
The DSE’s listing fee increased to $317,226, from $133,438, while profit after tax also rose by 14 per cent during the period under review.
The bourse’s investment income however dropped to $211,357 from $262,311, while revenue went up by more than 40 per cent to $1 million, from $695,296 in the fourth quarter of 2016.
“We are impressed with the strong performance we posted in the fourth quarter, despite it being the most challenging time of last year. Since the start of 2017, we have seen our share price appreciate by 42 per cent to reach $0.7 at the end of the fourth quarter, from $0.49,” DSE said.
NSE
At the NSE, the equity turnover declined in the last quarter of 2017, bogged down by a reduction in foreign trading, as the country experienced a political impasse between August and November, which affected trading.
According to data from NSE, the fourth quarter’s turnover declined 34 per cent to $350 million, from $521 million in the third quarter before the August elections.
The bourse also saw the share volume traded dip to 1.3 billion in the fourth quarter, from a high of two billion shares in the third quarter.
The net foreign sales declined to $3.3 million from a high of $10 million in the third quarter. The NSE 20 Share Index declined to 3,712 points, from 3,751 points at the end of quarter three.
Capitalisation
In Tanzania, the DSE saw its domestic capitalisation plunge three per cent at the start of last year, to $3.29 billion, after foreign investors started selling off their stocks, which has also tightened its liquidity.
“This drop was as a result of selling pressure emanating from socio-economic needs during the quarter and decreased foreign investor’s activity,” DSE chief executive Moremi Marwa said in his quarterly report.
DSE has 19 listed firms cutting across the banking, energy, manufacturing, agriculture, insurance, mining and commercial services sectors, with seven of them cross-listed on the NSE. Last year, it added Vodacom Tanzania through an initial public offering.
In 2017, the DSE All Share Index rose by 9.4 per cent from 2169.01 at the start of the year to 2394.65 in December.
DSE’s domestic market capitalisation rose by 5.5 to $4.5 billion per cent in the fourth quarter of 2017 from $4.3 billion in the previous quarter.
“The share prices of Tanzania Breweries, Vodacom Tanzania and Tanzania Cigarettes Company were the best performing counters that helped in pushing up this capitalisation,” the DSE chief executive quarterly note says.
The note also shows that DSE market liquidity recorded a significant increase during the quarter, with turnover rising by 51 per cent to a transaction value of $86.45 million from $57.19 million in the second quarter.
During the period under review, the total market capitalisation, recorded a significant increase of 13 per cent to $10.22 billion from $9.02 billion in the previous quarter.
Airtel and Halotel plan to float IPOs on the DSE this year. The latter said last month that it had submitted its prospectus to the Capital Markets and Security Authority.
If approved, Halotel Tanzania, which is owned by the Vietnamese government, will be the second to float an IPO behind Vodacom Tanzania, which listed last year.
Related stories