The good people at Wazua, does anyone have any information as to what is up with this counter? It has just printed a 52-week low..

Hey prof analyzer I'm waiting for your comments on cytonn thread

but NIC platform is still down, so i cannot even place any orders

@VVS. Remind me of the 5 year period of dividend drought on this counter UNGA. What was happening, can it happen Again. I'm not clear on details but I know of the dividend drought

Of course, what happened earlier can happen again. Things change.
KCB was very profitable early on then it was (technically) bankrupt just a few years ago [Moi-era].
KQ was loss-making then profitable then loss-making.
Apple was almost bankrupt not so long ago.
TransCentury used to be profitable but now loss-making.
Uchumi was profitable, then almost died, was resurrected, then back to poverty.

Is there any other reason for Unga except the history 5 years ago?

I could write about it but it's not really relevant today since the market dynamics have changed.

Dividends are important to some but some firms prefer not to pay dividends & then borrow e.g. Berkshire Hathaway and Centum. Mature firms eg BAT have high dividend payout ratios.

Unga is growing [& should not pay dividends] at the moment but at a 'leisurely' pace. I remain wary of its level of debt both KES & USD.

Sad! I hope they act swiftly, the worst response in bribery matters is to sit on the issue and hope it goes away. Especially if, like Unga, you hope to do lots of business with American Fastfood multinationals- the US anti-corruption investigators don't joke around as Goodyear discovered last year.

On a side note, I must start looking at the 'management fees' in Companies' accounts with a more cynical eye: according to the Independent article (link) that's the item under which BAT allegedly hid the bribes in its financial reports. The other was 'expenses incurred in anti-smuggling operations'.

Pizza Hut coming to Kenya according to news item I just watched. Will Unga be an 'exclusive supplier' as with KFC, Dominos and Nestle?

Its not far-fetched since Yum Brands, the owners of the KFC brand, also own the Pizza hut brand. They may not want their east african franchisees to go with untested suppliers given the multiple disasters Yum had with food suppliers in China.





On the downside- as far as I know, the board-member we share with BAT has not been dealt with.

Already opened. Westgate and University Way.