So the new trend in Annual General meetings is to reduce costs, and small shareholders who attend get no bitings, no sodas, no gift packs, little dividend; and definitely no lunch!

What I must wonder is whether the savings are commensurate with other trifles the company spends on for the executive. And perhaps most indicting, is the lunch held for a few executives/directors/dignitaries after the exerting affair of dealing with the Wananchi.

Safaricom AGM took place at Bomas today, and key issues were:
1. no frills
2. dividend in cents

What say you on the first issue, any justice to the owners of the company?

The one thing I took away from the AGM is that Kenyans need a lot of investor education..

Safcom did not pay out 20 cents.. it paid out Kshs. 8 billion which is 40% of its earnings..

this is comparable to with EABL which paid out 6.9 Billion from earnings of 12.5 Billion - 55.2%

Now consider that Safaricom is in telecomms which an extremely capital intensive sector... EABL might not have to change their machines every few years.. Telcos have to constantly keep up with technology.. Just the other day Safcom announced that they are starting 4G trials.... How much do you expect to be spent on that?

Yaani instead of people asking about strategies that the board has in place to fend off the PZain, they're asking about 20cts divs... If these guys have no plan, even 2cts will be a problem..

Actually the guy earned 34 million. Nothing personal against him though. www.nation.co.ke/busines...68/-/dyig9a/-/index.html

These guys bring a lot more to the Board than just business acumen. These firms want someone who can secure an appointment with the main guy when needed etc and at short notice. Udi Gecaga, Mark Too etc

That power will never win, atleast not in the near future, case in point is KQ, its pointless to waste your time to vote against just go there state you disatisfaction and raise your hand to re-elect the preselected team.

true dat!

Safaricom is not an NGO why should it compensate its shareholders for the slow share appreciation.

Come to think of it if for instance safaricom was to give a 0.50c per share as dividends all its profit for the year would be wiped out and still borrow to service the dividends.

I was only expressing frustrations of shareholders. Was not saying they should pay high dividends. I am a believer of capital gains growth in the share, not so much on dividends. That is why I like ARM

Sparkly could be right in a sense. consolidation will reduce free float and hence stabilize the price. Shares like ARM do not have high free float and hence the price is fairly stable, usually on the upper side. Even banks like Coop and Equity have less free float than KCB and hence they tend trade at a higher price

@vvs eh hee kweli kabisa. Small shareholders are an expensive bunch. Btw does cables pay sh600 for an eft to send me my ka-dividend of sh80? In that case i won't complain if they buy me an umbrella,t-shirt and lunch lol