Has anyone invested in Olympia?
What do Wazurians think of it?
Right now the price is low at 6.85...

Any insights will be greatly appreciated.

@VituVingiSana, beat me to the punch. But I'd looked at this Olympia for some time, with anticipation, then it all fell apart.

I also see potential gain. Consider though, counter is not very fluid.
Don't know whether the fruits of business growth are what will come through in the results? Improvement may only reflect restructuring or stop of blood-letting.

Unless you are buying/selling large numbers of shares, it seems pretty liquid (by Kenyan standards)... I notice nowadays (since the Rights Issue + price dip below 10), it trades 3,000 - 20,000 shares daily...

The year end is weird (28 Feb)... so official results should be out in 3-5 months.

But also note the price is down 25% since...
(Rights was at 14/-)

And Safaricom was down 40% at one point from IPO price...

So who knows?

@gathinga.. how recent/old is that article..??? because recently i'm aware the company is on a major drive to sort itself out

@guru - it is dated June 2009. Not too far off...

Is there any rule that governs the proportion of shareholding of listed companies, vis a vis original owners% and the % of floated shares? Sort of to prevent the main owners running amok unchecked?

That's interesting considering the above article. please post the link

@VVS. this is noit exactly moto-moto. There were serious questions raised. Regarding re-entry into South Africa, I note that this has not been achieved though there are plans to do so. There is no guarantee that this time round, things will be smooth. Besides, this investment if down in the first half of 2010 can only pay off later in 2011 or 2012, coz of the huge costs outlay involved in entering a new market.

My biggest problem with Olympia is one.
Why do they want to hold small market shares in many markets (kenya, SA, Botswana, Mozambique, and now Zambia and Zibambwe) in stead of developing one main market where they build a significant market share like EA Cables, EABL, Bamburi, ARM Etc have done.

The management of Olympia appears not ti be clear what their core business is!! Is it property or manufacturing? Neither do they know what are their main products? Is it tiles or?????

How can they close a company in SA in 2009, citing hostile retailers and get back in the same mamrket less than one year later. It appears they want to be in SA whether making loses or not? A case of egos

Someone please explain to me why Olympia borrowed from Avon while at the same time buying a additional 20% stake in the company in cash???

Ati corporate governance. This company has the worst corporate governance at the NSE. First, they don't meet NSE reporting deadlines for full year financial s and have had t pay fines in the last two financial years. I guess it takes time to cook books

@gathinga the CEO said the first time round they entered the SA market riddled with debt so they exited to clear their balance sheet and now they are re-entering mostly debt free...