• THE USUAL chami asked about the lack of age in in the director bio’s he is beginning to sound monotonous… I attended the last two agms he was at.. he asked the same questions…..
• Shareholders belly aching about rogue stock brokers.. one old lady told how she lost nearly a million to a stock broker….
• THE UNUSAUL …. Apparently because Barclays had received a lot of pleas from investors about their lost shares… they ran a video, but in English only on the different options for tracking shares…. Like the tracking them via the shares registrar, regular updates and how to interpret updates from the cdsc….
• Chairman had a hard time trying to keep questions to the business of the day….
• Goody bag,//// one umbrella blue, a lunch box with two chicken legs, a small bottle of water, one queen cake, one little five alive juice packet and a rather dry burger with no extras apart from the meat patty.…. One shareholder congratulated the management on the good choice of lunch. At the kcb agm last week one shareholder from samburu screamed blue murder over what he considered a cheap choice of lunch…..
• I got the impression that bbk shares have been a favorite target of rogue brokers….

HF FIRST QUARTER PROFIT RISES

MORTGAGE SERVICES PROVIDER HOUSING FINANCE HAS REPORTED A 155 PERCENT JUMP IN PRETAX PROFIT FOR THE THREE – MONTH TRADING PERIOD TO MARCH 2009, REALISING 68.9 MILLION SHILLINGS, UP FROM 27.1 MILLION OVER A SIMILAR PERIOD LAST YEAR. A RIGHTS ISSUE WHICH RAISED 2.3 BILLION SHILLINGS LAST YEAR AND THE SUBSEQUENT MASSIVE CAPITAL INFUSION FOLLOWING THE ACQUISITION OF A 24 PERCENT STAKE BY RAPIDLY GROWING EQUITY BANK HAS NOW SEEN THE COMPANY’S BALANCE SHEET EXPAND TO CREATE A NEW LENDING CAPACITY THAT IS 691 PERCENT ABOVE ITS LEVEL LAST YEAR.

AT THIS TIME LAST YEAR, RUMOURS WERE RIFE ABOUT AN INTENDED MASSIVE CASH INFUSION INTO HOUSING FINANCE BY EQUITY BANK. WHILE HOUSING FINANCE HAD BY THEN INDICATED THAT IT WOULD CREATE AND SELL 15 MILLION NEW SHARES AT 20 SHILLINGS EACH TO RAISE 2.3 BILLION SHILLINGS, THE SUBSEQUENT PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN THE BRITISH AMERICAN INVESTMENT COMPANY, BRITAK AND EQUITY BANK TO BUY UP 24.9 PERCENT OF H-F STOCK ESTIMATED TO BE WORTH ABOUT 1.1 BILLION MEANT THAT THE COMPANY WAS HEADED FOR INTENSE RECAPITALIZATION.  AND AFTER THE FIRST QUARTER OF 2009,  THE MORTGAGOR IS BOASTING A VASTLY IMPROVED ARSENAL FRANK IRERI. MD HOUSING FINANCE   SAID ADDITIONAL LENDING CAPACITY GREW TO 28 BILLION FROM 3.6 BILLION

DURING THE PERIOD UNDER REVIEW NET LOANS AND ADVANCES GREW BY 3 BILLION SHILLINGS TO 11.2 BILLION  UP FROM 8.2 BILLION IN MARCH 2008. THE COMPANY INTENDS TO REVIVE THE KENYA BUILDING SOCIETY AND PARTNER WITH SEVERAL PUBLIC BODIES TO ENHANCE FASTER BUSINESS GROWTH.  NEW HOUSING AND BUILDING CONSRUCTION ARE EXPECTED TO PUSH DOWNWARDS THE COST OF HOUSING….

HOUSING FINANCE HOWEVER EXPECTS AN UPWARD PRESSURE ON INTERST RATES GOING FORWARD ESPECIALLY WITH THE GOVERNMENT LOOKING INWARDS TO BRIDGE A LARGE BUDGET DEFICIT.