Home Afrika in first payout after NSE listing

NSE chairman Eddy Njoroge (from left), Vision 2030 Secretariat director-general Mugo Kibati and Home Afrika chairman Lee Karuri during the bell ringing ceremony, marking the company’s debut at the NSE last month. FILE 

By CHARLES MWANIKI

Home Afrika shareholders will earn an interim dividend of four cents per share, the real estate developer announced on Friday, after posting a net profit of Sh156.3 million in the six months to June 2013.

The company paid out a dividend of 10 cents per share for the full year ended December 2012 when a share split of 10:1 is factored in, or 96 cents per share pre-split.

The aggregate dividend for June 2013 was reported at Sh19.46 million, compared to a payout of Sh38.84 million for the 12 months to December 2012.

“The firm has not stated whether it has adequate funding for its planned projects and could need to borrow or raise funds through a rights issue. At Sh12, the counter is now trading on a Price to Book ratio of 10.8, a Price to Earnings ratio of 30, which seems a generous valuation for an investment holding company, in our view,” said Standard Investment bank in a note to investors.

Having been listed at the NSE in mid July, Home Afrika only reported full-year results for 2012, but did not disclose comparative half-year numbers for 2012.

The company’s cash from operations stood at Sh794,000 as at June 2013, compared to Sh642 million for the full year ended December 2012. Revenue stood at Sh420.7 million for the six months to June, compared to the Sh839 million in the 12 months to December 2012.

The company’s share, which doubled in price to Sh24 upon listing in July, has shed value since then to stand at Sh12.30 by Friday’s close of trading, having briefly touched the listing price of Sh12 during trading last week.

Its market value has halved from the Sh10 billion reached on its NSE debut to the ShSh4.98 billion on close of trading on Friday.

The fall has been blamed on a price correction as well as selling pressure from shareholders keen to lock in the gains of the initial price rise.