Investments in the bourse have turned more than 9,000 Kenyans into dollar millionaires. FILE PHOTO | NMG
Investments in the stockmarket have turned more than 9,000
Kenyans into dollar millionaires, with latest data showing that
super-rich individuals have put at least a quarter of their money in
listed companies.
A survey by consultancy firm Knight
Frank shows that Kenya’s super-rich have allocated 25 per cent of their
investment portfolios to equities, 22 per cent to property and 22 per
cent to cash or cash equivalents.
The report states
that Nairobi hosts most of the country’s ultra-wealthy (net worth of at
least $30 million) with 82 residing in the capital as of 2018; the
number is projected to rise to 102 over the next five years.
The
Wealth Report 2019 shows that the bond market has taken up 20 per cent
of their investment basket, with only three per cent going to private
equity and another three per cent to luxury investments such as art,
wine and luxury cars.
The super-rich have only put one
per cent of their investments in precious commodities such as gold, with
four per cent going to other unspecified investments.
According to the survey, key sectors that generated wealth last year included financial services (17 per cent), technology and telecommunications (15 per cent), and retail, fashion and luxury goods (11 per cent).
According to the survey, key sectors that generated wealth last year included financial services (17 per cent), technology and telecommunications (15 per cent), and retail, fashion and luxury goods (11 per cent).
Others
are transport and logistics, manufacture of fast moving consumer goods,
and media totalling seven per cent, and basic materials (the extractive
industry such as mining, oil and gas) at six per cent.
Although the survey says Kenyans have earned millions of dollars
from stockmarket investments, it does not specify which markets the
huge earnings came from.
The Nairobi Securities
Exchange and the other regional stockmarkets have recently recorded
reduced activity, prompting investors to shift funds into alternative
investments such as government securities, which have relatively high
and stable returns.
Last year, Kenyan pension schemes lost money in the stockmarket due to poor performance of the share trading business.
Cumulatively,
pension schemes reported an average return of 5.7 per cent for the 12
months to December 31, 2018, compared with 17.9 per cent in 2017,
according to a survey by Zamara Actuaries Administrators and
Consultants. Returns from offshore investments were also not encouraging
due to the unresolved US-China trade tensions.
In
2018, investments in Kenya’s equity markets recorded an average return
of negative 13.1 per cent, down from 31 per cent in 2017.
The
decline in performance of the equity market was compounded by the exit
of foreign investors pursuing high returns in developed markets such as
the US.
Other stockmarkets in the region also recorded mixed performances, largely due to reduced corporate earnings.
The
EAC stockmarkets have had few initial public offerings as privately
owned firms have shied off the market due to stringent regulations and
the high listing fees.
According to the Knight Frank
report, Kenya’s political and economic environment made it more
difficult for investors to create and protect their wealth in 2018 than
in the previous year.
It is also feared that the
current unpredictable political and economic environment will make it
harder for investors to make and safeguard their wealth this year.
Sanlam
Investments East Africa’s latest market report shows that the Ugandan
Securities Exchange All Share Index and Local Share Index were down two
per cent and 0.1 per cent respectively in February, due to decreasing
prices of large-cap stocks on the back of excess supply relative to
demand.
Headwinds persisted at the Dar es Salaam Stock
Exchange despite the two main banks, —NMB and CRDB — posting relatively
good performance in 2018 compared with 2017.
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