The recently issued stock data in Uganda reveals a growing investor appetite for some big name firms these past few weeks, including Stanbic Holdings Uganda, MTN Uganda, Bank of Baroda and Umeme Ltd shares.
As seen on The East African, by June the overall revenue generated by MTN Uganda spiked by 20.17% to Ush1.52 trillion ($405.9 million), showing a good trend propelled by the company’s mobile money and voice business divisions’ robust development.
During the same period, its profit after tax climbed by 29.69% to Ush295.74 billion ($78.9 million), while its operating expenditures increased by 17.91% to Ush738.25 billion ($197 million).
Due to increasing demand from the illegal cigarette trade and the anti-tobacco use regulatory environment, British American Tobacco Uganda’s total sales income decreased from Ush48.576 billion ($29.7 million) as of June 2023 to Ush 39.577 billion ($10.5 million) in June of this year.
Between June 2023 and June 2024, the company’s profit before tax grew from Ush5.488 billion ($1.47 million) to Ush6.536 billion ($1.75 million).
According to the data, 2.77 million shares were traded during the trading session that ended July 19, with a total trading turnover of Ush173.77 million ($46,399) registered at the Uganda Securities Exchange (USE).
Andrew Muhimbise, a USE retail investor, briefly detailed plans for trading shares in these companies stating; “Some investors are trying to buy more MTN shares now to take advantage of huge earnings before the separation of its mobile money business from the voice and data business in 2025. Umeme Limited is expected to declare a half-year dividend and investors are also keen to exploit this opportunity.”
Umeme’s subsequent exit will presumably compensate investors with three to four times the current share price, and some investors are still attempting to take advantage of that opportunity, according to Edward Ruyonga, a stock dealer at Dyer & Blair Uganda.
“Stanbic’s recent dividend payments have impressed some large investors who are based overseas and usually transact through nominee accounts held in commercial banks.” Edward Ruyonga stated.
