[2008-07-28]  Safaricom IPO slows down bourse
TRADING at the Uganda Securities Exchange (USE) slowed during the second quarter of the year as investors shifted their investment to Kenya?s Safaricom initial public offer (IPO), a top USE official said over the weekend.

Simon Rutega, the chief executive officer, said Ugandans invested over sh110b in Safaricom, in which the Kenyan government offered its 25% stake to the public from March 28 to April 23.

Trading at the bourse slumped to a total turnover of sh13.6b from sh36.4b in the previous quarter.

Volumes also dropped to 38,912,489 shares traded from 67,104,615 previously. The number of deals also declined to 3,901 from 3,979 recorded the previous quarter.

Rutega noted that the long delays in accessing Safaricom refunds exacerbated the liquidity crunch at the bourse.

?There were hiccups regarding the Safaricom refunds. We are working with our regional partners to ensure the smooth process of cross-border transactions.

?We are working to see if there is a way forward in terms of banks guaranteeing investors to ensure what is allocated is paid for,? the USE chief said.

The Stanbic Bank counter maintained its dominance in trading, accounting for 66.19% of total turnover and 94.99% of the volume.

The Uganda Clays followed with 10.82% of the turnover and 0.51% of the total volume.

New Vision and Bank of Baroda accounted for 12.02% and 4.57% of turnover, while volumes stood at 1.71% and 0.45% respectively.

The USE All Share Index recorded a marginal decline at the start of the quarter but later rose to 1,037.92 at the end of April.

Levels see-sawed between 1,061.01 and 1,090.28 for the rest of May, rising to a record high of 1,162.49 in June but dropped to 1,096. at the end of the quarter, official data indicated.
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