am not ready to touch where indians and south africans invest in kenya.
you may wake up with fully burnt legs if not fingers

Kuweni serious! I am happy to invest in these. They are among the best run firms except merali, pattni & somaia who are politically connected. Only idiots trust these three!

So I assume you do not invest in
- DTBK, Jubilee, NMG, TPSEA [All which have made me good money! Never lost here. All are higher than the IPO or Rights price!]

- ScanGroup [Another profitable one for me. I bought at the IPO]

- ARM [I regret not buying these. 3/- a few years ago. If I had bought 100,000, for only 300,000/- I would have Sh17.5mn + dividends leo!]

- Carbacid [Apparently, the #1 shareholder is BC Patel? Lakini, very profitable company! I regret selling my shares but even then I made 100% return in 2 years!]

- City Trust [Illiquid but it has done well for me]

- Crown Berger [I sold mine at a slight profit but then it did very well. Stagnated of late]

C&G [Seems to be quite profitable but shares are illiquid. CEO & majority owner seems Gidoomal akina Giro Bank]

KenolKobil [A roller coaster but overall I made money. The price before the split was around 150/- so until we see 15/- I am still underwater for the 'old' shares I bought]

Historically, the best Banks have been multinationals. The worst have been local banks e.g. KCB, NBK, Kenya Finance Bank.
EXCEPT the phenomenal Equity Bank. Best bank ever for investors!

Coop listed recently so too early to tell.

CFC Bank [It did very well under former CEOs Jani & soundarajan but after Stanbic a disaster]

Failures

Pan-African Insurance [Before my time it was respectable firm. Apparently some Mhindi from Mombasa. Then came the crooks like nyammo & his friends. They destroyed Kenya Finance Bank. Even forced PAI to invest in KFB. Finally PAI sold to S.Africans but the performance has been lousy vs Jubilee. The profitable APA Insurance was run by Apollo Insurance]

Olympia [One of my WORST investments. matu wamae & michael matu. I do not think anyone has nice things to say about him. Dunlop was good until these nyeri guys came in then they took all teh cash out for themselves]

Uchumi [I remember a guy Suresh Shah. We made money in those days! 5/- dividends & 60/- share price! Then akina kirubi came with his kin akina thairu]

EAPCC [Bure kabisa! It was bigger than ARM but ARM has beat it by a mile! Managed by GoK appointees]

Marshalls [Once pattni & somaia got into it, it was all downhill]

Sasini, eveready, sameer [I avoid ALL merali firms. Only idiots buy into these long-term]

KenGen [eddy njoroge. Bure kabisa in my view. Better to buy KPLC]

KenRe [Useless. Compared to the Mhindis at Jubilee these guys are bure kabisa even with GUARANTEED concessions! They buy forest/land from ruto. Jubilee would not be so stupid]

Safaricom [Overall, I lost money. The firm is doing OK lakini we were conned into paying 5/-. Don't forget akina moi scammed us through mobitelea & kibaki did nothing. Bure kabisa!]

Mumias [Another perennial under-performer. Too political]

So-so

Unga [Run by kiereni & friends. Hopefully, the Americans will turn it around]

CMC [It did very well under Martin Forster but then ran aground. I made money on this one! Lucky to sell out in time]

Williamson & Kapchorua [They have been volatile. Owned & managed by kaburus. Magor family of UK]

Kakuzi [Owned & managed by kaburus but the land is worth a lot if Tatu City is developed]

Limuru Tea [Owned & managed by kaburus. The share price has not risen in years. That said, I sold out & I think I made money. Very illiquid]

HFCK [This one did a roller coaster on me. Overall, I lost money. If not for Equity, I would have lost even more! Equity saved HFCK]

KPLC [Gichuru then Njoroge. This was a disaster. At least the new guy is better but I am still in the hole]

KQ [I used to think Naikuni was awesome until you see he survived on Brian Presbury's early years' good work. Since then almost a disaster but I still have hope!]


So except for Equity... most of my best returns on the NSE over the past 20+ years [mimi ni mzee] have been from the Mhindi firms. Not sure what others say?

I would dread to have solely put money into Kenya Finance Bank, HFCK, Pan Africa, Uchumi [post- Shah], Mumias, KPLC, Olympia/Dunlop, etc when I started out!

THE RAAAAAAAALLLLLYYY CONTINUEEEESSSS.......I'M GONNNNA RIDE THIS SUCKER TILL THE END....

Hapa kuna kitu, there's something we dont know. nice point about, division of liabilities, assets etc

@youcant - I have to say the Aga Khan firms have done very well for me. All of them!

I was too young to get into DTB & Jubilee & NMG IPOs but TPS has done well. I have always bought into the Rights. All have paid off for me.

@VVS,

You have been in the market for long. I am sure u did manage to buy KPLC at 6, KQ at 6, Msc @3. What about EABL before many splits and bonuses? I am told there were days Kenol Kobil was 50 cents!

@vvs i remember kina nmg at 37 without the splits,bonuses,dividends etc! Realizing gains was a nightmare. Getting in and out of a share took 2 months. you buy,wait for the certificate to be printed, then to sell you take take lt to the broker for verification. By that time price has moved to kisumu and back.

This is an era of fast money...i'm afraid buy and hold wont produce the same returns as active trading...commissions at 1.9% what will stop me...if funds where unlimited i would wake up and trade everyday...look at scan it rallied 100% last year within hw many month? Cfc rallied from 39 to 90...perfect is C&G...for a trader who bought at 36 and sold at 68 made more than 70% but for a long termer who bought at 36...war do u say of him? wat i'm saying is buy n hold is dead.
What are the returns for a shareholder who has invested in Kenya Re,AK and Safcom since IPO?

Times have changed...the world has changed...most Kenyan firms have matured...ARM will never give u the same returns again...the macro economics of the world have changed...as the world population continue to sage so is the competition for resources which results in conflicts...lol...dont listen to my crap...everything i own is for sale at the right price.

@VVS,

Thanks VVS for the your insights. I never knew shares then. I only used to hear from my dad but he had few bbk and kcb.

I think we may see few potential opportunities in our market, obviously not like in the past.


Having observed the market, I am still convinced the best way to grow in value is not through trading but value investing the WB way. Only tradfe a small shareholding.