Despite business confidence scaling to a 3 month high, reflecting hopes of bullish business activity in the months ahead, Zambia’s factory gauge headlined a second contraction for the month of March. This was on account of liquidity and rising input costs impacting the manufacturing process. Africa’s red metal hotspot has not been spared from the autopsy of geopolitics in Europe centered around the Russo – Ukrainian war that has scaled crude prices higher impacting pump prices in the Southern African nation. Geopolitics and post pandemic recovery have influenced the supply and demand side of the petroleum markets all resulting in…
Author: The Editor
Africa’s second largest producer of copper Zambia, will effective midnight of March 31, 2022 scale its pump petroleum prices higher by a fifth. According to a communique by the Energy Regulation Board (ERB) released on its website, geopolitical tension between Russia and Ukraine has propelled crude prices higher offset in part by a marginal Kwacha appreciation in the period to force the second pump price hike of the year 2022. Petrol and low sulphur diesel pricing for April will now be K4.5 and K4.68 higher than previous month to K26.5 and K26.22 per liter respectively. Being the second largest crude…
They say a picture says a thousand words. The trio are the only female indigenous Chief Executive Officers in the copper producers banking industry and last year were responsible for just under 40% of the sectors earnings. As the world drives the Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) agenda harder, Africa’s second largest red metal hotspot is breaking the gender bias in the banking industry with 39.7% of its industry profitability generated by 3 top female executives in a 17 bank and male dominated sector. The names Mukwandi Chibesakunda, Mizinga Melu and Lowani Chibesakunda are very synonymous with stellar banking and…
Given the morphing global fundamentals giving rise to an increase in short term risks, Africa’s second largest copper hot spot has not been spared from the autopsy effects. Offshore interest in Monday March 22 government bond sale ebbed as the Bank of Zambia only raised K1.84 billion of the K2.6 billion of assets on offer despite an appetite in bids of K2.8 billion. Demand skew was distributed fairly between the 2 to 7 year tenors with the strongest in a longer dated bucket, the 7 year. READ ALSO: Global Risk Complexity Could Support Stronger Appetite in Longer Dated Kwacha Securities…
Zambia’s monetary head Dr. Denny Kalyalya tipped banks to strive to protect digital product consumers from the emergence of cyber risks. Kalyalya said this at the commencement of the financial literacy week in the capital. “With regard to Government related services, the use of digital platforms is expected to enhance revenue collection and contribute positively to the national Treasury. This notwithstanding, the rise in the use of Digital Financial Services has also introduced significant risks for individuals as well as for financial service providers. To address these risks, there is greater need to enhance cyber security and raise awareness about fraud…
The time on most global watches is earnings o’clock as most listed entities report their FY21 audited performance. For Africa’s copper hotspot Zambia, most listed stocks reported exceptional performance, including those with a track record of losses for the last few years. Ideally many businesses would be sub optimal in financial performance in suppressed environments such as ones homogenous across the globe as the pandemic weighed. For the Zambian bourse the Lusaka Securities Exchange (LuSE) for listed entities representing the agribusiness, banking, energy and telecoms sectors debuted in record high earnings in excess of a billion Kwacha in profits before…
Despite a COVID delta variant marred 2021, Zambian Breweries Plc a subsidiary of South Africa’s AB InBev, was still able to deliver a 1,152% growth year on year in After Tax Profit (PAT) of K106.2 million ($5.8 million) supported by a 33.0% growth in revenues to K3.06 billion as sales scaled 15.0% higher. The beer producer recorded a 30% ebb in foreign exchange costs, 5.0% decline in fixed costs and a 444% spike in finance costs. PERHAPS ZAMBREW STOCKS ARE OVERPRICED ISIN:ZM0000000078 (ZMBRW) showed a Price Earnings (PE) ratio of 25.9 signaling stock overvaluation suggesting that they could be trading…
The energy markets are currently weighed by an autopsy of geopolitical tension denting supply and a post pandemic recovery scaling demand respectively with the resulting effect being record crude prices close to 2008 highs. After a subsidy extermination as the Zambia’s fiscal authorities reshuffled its fiscal purse to optimize national economic production possibilities, petroleum prices were hiked 25.0% in December of 2021. According to FY21 audited financials, Lusaka Securities Exchange listed PUMA Energy’s headline earnings rose 25.0% to K5.8 billion (circa. $315.2 million) supported by a 6.0% growth in volumes as the copper producers coppers economy started to claw back…
In a few weeks’ time Owen Silavwe the CEC Plc Chief Executive Officer will be paying a 2 cents a share in dividend for an energy company worth close to 19 cents a share after delivering a remarkable performance in 2021, a performance once threatened to extinction by political risks in the last cycle. Barely a year ago the Copperbelt Energy Corporations (CEC Plc) earnings were dented by a $90 million impairment charge following a Statutory Instrument (SI.57) declaring the state power utility as common carrier. This pronouncement in the previous political regime brewed uncertainty in the energy industry which…
The current chaotic state of the global environment is posing an array of short term risks that could fret offshore players in locking liquidity is shorter dated tenors in the upcoming Kwacha fixed income debt sale earmarked for Monday March 21, 2022. Grappling with a debt restructure whose time lines remain uncertain, geopolitical tensions have nonetheless seen crude prices at highs last seen in 2008 – potentially fueling inflation pressure. The risk landscape in the short term, remains fairly elevated and is compounded by the recent US Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) rate hike to curb inflation, does breed immense…