Author: Jacques Leroueil

Attacked by the Nigerian regulatory authorities, MTN reconfirmed its intention to list its local subsidiary on the stock exchange. Staying the course, whatever the cost: it is the line that has decided to adopt MTN in Nigeria, a country in which the South African operator has to face the wrath of the regulatory authorities [1], who demand it a cumulative amount exceeding $ 10 billion. Despite this adversity, which may have cast doubts on its plans, the company confirmed Monday, through its CEO Rob Shuter, its intention to float its local subsidiary – it holds at 79% – at the…

Kenyan operator wins first place in the latest Forbes ranking of the best employers in the world. Forbes, for the second time, has named the world’s 500 Best Employers, based on its annual Forbes Global 2000 ranking of the world’s 2000 largest publicly traded companies. If this second edition is unsurprisingly dominated by the icons of American capitalism (Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon …), the first African company to appear in the list is the Kenyan operator Safaricom, which is placed in the 67th position, followed by South African Naspers (224th), First Rand (432nd) and Sanlam (457th). An African presence admittedly…

More and more African financial markets are launching compartments dedicated to SMEs. A mode of financing- and placement- often advantageous. But behind the effects of announcement, the formula still struggles to win. For African small and medium-sized enterprises, the finding is bitter: while they represent 90% of private companies on the continent and contribute more than 45% to employment, few are able to obtain external financing. Lucides, the teams of the African Development Bank and recall “[…] that more than 70% of SMEs have difficulty accessing funding over the medium / long term […]”, traditional financial institutions are often poorly…

A little over seven months after being elected President of the Republic of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa put on the economy to breathe new life into the rainbow nation. Review of key points of his recovery plan. It is in Pretoria that the South African President Cyril Ramaphosa unveiled on Friday a series of measures to revive the economy of his country, in recession [1]. A stimulus plan that, according to the head of state, aims in the first place “to restore investor confidence, avoid further job cuts and create new jobs”. In the current context of budgetary tensions experienced…

Stanbic Bank, the Kenyan subsidiary of the South African group Standard Bank, reported Friday a half-year profit after tax more than doubled compared to the same period last year. At 3.48 billion shillings ($ 35 million), the net income for the first half of 2018 increased by 104 percent compared to the profits generated 12 months earlier (Shsh 1.72 billion, or $ 17 million). . A spectacular increase, which is primarily due to the sharp decline in provisions for bad debts: with 253.2 million shillings provisioned, against 1.8 billion in the first half of 2017, the risk associated with bad…

Launched in 2009, in the midst of the global financial crisis, the BRICS Emerging Powers Club, faced with the new American protectionist threat, once again stood together at its 10th annual summit in Johannesburg. In this anxiety-provoking context of mistrust and uncertainty, there is no doubt that the fifteen or so African heads of state present in South Africa have taken full measure of the stakes: the current economic climate, made up of increasing isolationism from the market In the US, persistent low commodity prices and continued rising sovereign debt costs are painfully reminiscent of precarious growth in many of…

After receiving on Monday Chinese President Xi Jinping, who was traveling to Johannesburg on Tuesday to attend the BRICS countries summit, the Rwandan authorities welcomed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi just as well. During a two-day state visit (July 23-24), the Hindu nationalist makes the first visit of an Indian Prime Minister to Rwanda, following the recent visits of President Kagame to India (in January and March) . In Kigali, the two leaders described the visit as “an important milestone in the long-standing friendship and cooperation between [the two countries]”. In addition to the closeness of view displayed on many…

Published by the Standard Investment Bank, the latest semiannual study on the Nairobi Stock Exchange confirms that many operators in the Kenyan financial market have seen for some time: volumes are back. According to data provided by the SIB, the average daily turnover traded on the Nairobi Stock Exchange was 868 million shillings ($ 8.65 million) in the first six months of the year, an increase of 31% compared to the same period last year. The daily peaks were realized in March, with an average daily volume of 1.1 billion shillings ($ 11 million), and coincided with the highest stock…

On the defensive since the debacle of the distributor Steinhoff, of which he is the main shareholder, the South African businessman Christo Wiese has covered part of the shares he holds in the other major brand he controls, Shoprite . According to the terms of the deal, announced by Wednesday’s press release on financial hedging, FirstRand, Rand Merchant Bank and Barclays Africa placed 17 million shares with institutional investors at 210 rand. share price, a slight discount to the previous day’s closing share price (R224.89). The hedge itself is worth 3.6 billion rand (265 million dollars) and involves the establishment…

The South African group announced Friday its bankruptcy. The end of a long adventure for an iconic rainbow nation. The news fell like a cleaver: The group Basil Read, long one of South Africa’s flagship construction sector, announced Friday afternoon to have placed itself under the protection of the bankruptcy law. At the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, where the company is listed, the effect was immediate: the stock ended down 89%, trading at two cents at the close, after touching a low of one cent in session . The announcement of this bankruptcy is the culmination of a long descent into…