On Thursday, Safaricom’s stock price increased 6.8% following the company’s announcement of increased profitability from its core Kenyan business.
The share price increased from a 52-week low of Ksh11.50 on Monday of this week to Ksh13.30 on Thursday.
With 17.3 million shares traded and a turnover of Ksh230.2 million ($1.52 million), the business led all trades at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).
In addition to reiterating its commitment to maintaining its dividend policy, the telecom operator offered more encouragement on Thursday. An interim dividend announcement is scheduled for the first quarter of 2024.
Even though Safaricom is a favourite among investors, its share price has plummeted throughout the year, mostly due to sell-downs by international investors who have avoided the NSE in favour of assets in developed economies that provide comparably higher returns in the face of rising interest rates.
After Williamson Tea Kenya, Safaricom’s share price ended yesterday as the second highest riser, with a foreign participation rate of 85.6%.
Despite this, the telco’s share price is still below its 52-week high of Ksh29, and its year-to-date returns are still negative.
Safaricom mentioned better-than-expected results in the first half of its financial year, which ended in September, when it updated its full-year outlook on earnings before interest and tax.
The group’s net profit for the first half of the year was Ksh27.1 billion ($178.82 million), led by Kenya. This was a modest decrease from Ksh30.2 billion ($199.3 million) in the same period last year.
The group’s service income reached Ksh159.1 billion ($1.05 billion) during the period, growing by 9.3 percent. Safaricom has been able to partially offset losses from capital expenditures on its Ethiopia expansion operations thanks to the resilience of its Kenyan business.
