EMIRATES airline is for a limited time offering its business and first class passengers com- plimentary stays at iconic hotels in Dubai. First class passengers will be able to stay for two nights at the luxury Armani Hotel, located within the world’s tallest building the Burj Khalifa, or the Jumeirah Zabeel Saray, located on the Palm Jumeirah Island. Business class passengers will receive a complimentary night at The Address Dubai Marina or the Jumeirah Emirates Tower hotel. Emirates Regional Manager for East Africa Essa Sulaiman Ahmad believes that “with this offer, not only do our passengers experience Emirates’ award- winning first and business class products, but they also stay in style and comfort.” To be eligible for the offer, passengers must complete their journey between 1 August and 30 September, 2011 and book before 31 July 2011. BY MATHEWS NDANYI AND SAMUEL OTIENO SUGAR prices have almost dou- bled in the last one week as the countrywide shortage escalates. This is despite an assurance by millers that there are adequate stocks. In Kisumu, the price of a 2kg sachet that was retailing at Sh190 a week ago is now selling at Sh300 with most of the retail- ers having limited stock. At Tuskys, there was only the Mumias branded sugar while in Nakumatt and Ukwala only the Sony brand was available . Millers said the shortage has been created by traders seek- ing to double their profits. They said they have been operating normally and supplying sugar regularly. Kenya Sugar Board director Saulo Busolo said the shortage is artificial and accused some sup- pliers of hoarding the commodity in order to force an increase in prices. “We have enough sugar in the country but some of the suppliers are planning to hijack the market by creating a shortage to precipi- tate a crisis and then cause a price increase”, said Busolo. Busolo said the government should take action against those involved in hoarding sugar in or- der to make money from increased prices. He termed the hoarding as economic sabotage. A 50kg sack of sugar at the South Nyanza Sugar Company (SONY) goes for Sh4650 which translates to Sh186 per kilo- gramme but at the supermarket shelves the same quantity trades at Sh300. A spot check at the major sugar warehouse in Kisumu revealed that the commodity was available in huge quantities despite com- plaints by retailers of inadequate supplies. Nakumatt Kisumu manager Charles Oriaro said, the retail price was pegged on the high wholesale price. Sony Sugar said they have been releasing over 6000 bags of sugar daily to the market through their distributors but admitted that de- mand had shot up. Mumias Sugar’s Corporate and Communication officer Fran- cis Wangara dismissed claims of a sugar shortage saying despite the closure of the company for maintenance there are adequate supplies in their reserves. Super- markets in Eldoret and KItale are restricting customers from buying sugar in bulk and there is fear that the commodity available will run out in the next few days. Sugar from Mumias and Nzoia Sugar Companies is completely out of stock in most supermar- kets in Eldoret, Iten, Kitale and Kapsabet. “There has been panic buying in some shops and that is why we have restricted purchase to not more than five kilogrammes per customer”, said Leonard Wan- jala who is a supervisor at Nandi Stores. He said supplies from some of the manufacturers was not constant causing the fears of a looming serious shortage of the commodity. 36 LOCAL THE STAR Monday, July 25, 2011 Can YOU outsmart the expert? PRICES UP: Workers at the Mumias sugar factory in western Kenya Emirates offers free Dubai hotel-stays ★ business UP TO DATE, ACCURATE BUSINESS INFORMATION NEWS YOU CAN USE, EVERY DAY Sugar prices rise as shortage bites ALY KHAN’S STAR PORTFOLIO ONCE upon a time, when I was at boarding school in Kileleshwa, I used to wait for my weekly aerogram from my father from Mombasa. I was nine and I would get excited and the paper was so thin and ephemeral and inevitably it would tear. There was only one TV Station then, the Voice of Kenya. Information and knowledge were very slow moving. The ability of you and me [The Crowd] to interrogate anything did not exist. The world was asymmetric. There was zero oversight of anyone. In fact, Samuel Gichuru and Chris Okemo esquires are near perfect examples of folks who took advantage of the asym- metry. Were these folks incredibly intelligent? Did they build value for our economy? Were they incredibly talented entrepreneurs? Let’s Fast Forward to today. The year 2011, I have close to 14,000 followers on Twitter. My Twitter handle is @alykhansatchu and my followers include the likes of @bob- collymore and @OduorMartinO. In fact I invited President Paul Kagame of Rwanda to #Mindspeak via Twit- ter. However, within those 14,000 followers, I have folks who are not so readily recognisable but they are talented. One follower is a forensic accountant, for example, with an uncanny ability to analyse balance sheets and results, in real time. And there are thousands of people who reside in the crowd, who have tremendous skills and they have a voice and a platform now.The ability to interrogate is a graph that has flown off the charts. Now let me take you to the Nairobi Stock Exchange and our 54 listed companies. There is a bifurcation. There are the likes of Safaricom and KCB, who have em- braced the c21st. They are running operations which are transparent and c21st. However, there are other companies which are stuck in the Stone Age. Look very hard espe- cially at companies where there is a majority shareholder. Allow me to pick on the tea companies. I have a position in George Williamson. I entered this company because I had a supreme conviction that tea prices were headed a lot higher. When I got into this company, it was making just under Sh20 a share. For the last two years, it has been making more than Sh90.00 a share. So I was not wrong. This company’s Dividend Pay Out Ratio is 15.39%, Safaricom and KCB have a Dividend Pay Out Ratio of approximately 50%. Tea Companies are hardly Ultra High Growth companies, which need to conserve their cash flow. This mean ‘Black Swan’ Pay out Ra- tio is like the ‘Theatre of the Absurd.’ Could Mr. Collymore or Mr. Oduor-Otieno have paid out such a dividend? In fact, The Blow Back would have been brutal and their share prices impaired. If my Agenda was to trash the share price, then I would be doing exactly what George Williamson has done and that is why it trades on a PE Ratio of 2.124. There is nowhere in the world, where any management would still be ‘rusting on its throne’ with its company trading on a PE of 2.124. Of Course, there are other equally egregious examples but I will leave that for another discus- sion. Shares go up and down and readers are advised that this column repre- sents Mr Satchu’s personal opinions. CORPORATE GOVERNANCE - IN THE AGE OF INSTANT COMMUNICATION
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EMIRATES airline is for a limited time offering its business and � rst class passengers com-plimentary stays at iconic hotels in Dubai.
First class passengers will be able to stay for two nights at the luxury Armani Hotel, located within the world’s tallest building the Burj Khalifa, or the
Jumeirah Zabeel Saray, located on the Palm Jumeirah Island. Business class passengers will receive a complimentary night at The Address Dubai Marina or the Jumeirah Emirates Tower hotel.
Emirates Regional Manager for East Africa Essa Sulaiman Ahmad believes that “with this
offer, not only do our passengers experience Emirates’ award-winning � rst and business class products, but they also stay in style and comfort.”
To be eligible for the offer, passengers must complete their journey between 1 August and 30 September, 2011 and book before 31 July 2011.
BY MATHEWS NDANYI AND SAMUEL OTIENO
SUGAR prices have almost dou-bled in the last one week as the countrywide shortage escalates.This is despite an assurance by millers that there are adequate stocks.
In Kisumu, the price of a 2kg sachet that was retailing at Sh190 a week ago is now selling at Sh300 with most of the retail-ers having limited stock.
At Tuskys, there was only the Mumias branded sugar while in Nakumatt and Ukwala only the Sony brand was available .
Millers said the shortage has been created by traders seek-ing to double their pro� ts. They said they have been operating normally and supplying sugar regularly.
Kenya Sugar Board director Saulo Busolo said the shortage is arti� cial and accused some sup-pliers of hoarding the commodity in order to force an increase in prices.
“We have enough sugar in the country but some of the suppliers are planning to hijack the market by creating a shortage to precipi-tate a crisis and then cause a price increase”, said Busolo.
Busolo said the government should take action against those involved in hoarding sugar in or-der to make money from increased prices. He termed the hoarding as economic sabotage.
A 50kg sack of sugar at the South Nyanza Sugar Company (SONY) goes for Sh4650 which translates to Sh186 per kilo-gramme but at the supermarket
shelves the same quantity trades at Sh300.
A spot check at the major sugar warehouse in Kisumu revealed that the commodity was available in huge quantities despite com-plaints by retailers of inadequate supplies.
Nakumatt Kisumu manager Charles Oriaro said, the retail price was pegged on the high wholesale price.
Sony Sugar said they have been releasing over 6000 bags of sugar daily to the market through their distributors but admitted that de-mand had shot up.
Mumias Sugar’s Corporate and Communication of� cer Fran-cis Wangara dismissed claims of a sugar shortage saying despite the closure of the company for maintenance there are adequate
supplies in their reserves. Super-markets in Eldoret and KItale are restricting customers from buying sugar in bulk and there is fear that the commodity available will run out in the next few days.
Sugar from Mumias and Nzoia Sugar Companies is completely out of stock in most supermar-kets in Eldoret, Iten, Kitale and Kapsabet.
“There has been panic buying in some shops and that is why we have restricted purchase to not more than � ve kilogrammes per customer”, said Leonard Wan-jala who is a supervisor at Nandi Stores.
He said supplies from some of the manufacturers was not constant causing the fears of a looming serious shortage of the commodity.
36 LOCAL THE STAR Monday, July 25, 2011
Can YOU outsmart the expert?
PRICES UP: Workers at the Mumias sugar factory in western Kenya
Emirates offers free Dubai hotel-stays
★business UP TO DATE, ACCURATE BUSINESS INFORMATIONNEWS YOU CAN USE, EVERY DAY
Sugar prices rise as shortage bites
ALY KHAN’S STAR
PORTFOLIO
ONCE upon a time, when I was at boarding school in Kileleshwa, I used to wait for my weekly aerogram from my father from Mombasa. I was nine and I would get excited and the paper was so thin and ephemeral and inevitably it would tear. There was only one TV Station then, the Voice of Kenya. Information and knowledge were very slow moving. The ability of you and me [The Crowd] to interrogate anything did not exist. The world was asymmetric. There was zero oversight of anyone. In fact, Samuel Gichuru and Chris Okemo esquires are near perfect examples of folks who took advantage of the asym-metry. Were these folks incredibly intelligent? Did they build value for our economy? Were they incredibly talented entrepreneurs?
Let’s Fast Forward to today. The year 2011, I have close to 14,000 followers on Twitter. My Twitter handle is @alykhansatchu and my followers include the likes of @bob-collymore and @OduorMartinO. In fact I invited President Paul Kagame of Rwanda to #Mindspeak via Twit-ter. However, within those 14,000 followers, I have folks who are not so readily recognisable but they are talented. One follower is a forensic accountant, for example, with an uncanny ability to analyse balance sheets and results, in real time. And there are thousands of people who reside in the crowd, who have tremendous skills and they have a voice and a platform now.The ability to interrogate is a graph that has fl own off the charts.
Now let me take you to the Nairobi Stock Exchange and our 54 listed companies. There is a
bifurcation. There are the likes of Safaricom and KCB, who have em-braced the c21st. They are running operations which are transparent and c21st. However, there are other companies which are stuck in the Stone Age. Look very hard espe-cially at companies where there is a majority shareholder.
Allow me to pick on the tea companies. I have a position in George Williamson. I entered this company because I had a supreme conviction that tea prices were headed a lot higher. When I got into this company, it was making just under Sh20 a share. For the last two years, it has been making more than Sh90.00 a share. So I was not wrong. This company’s Dividend Pay Out Ratio is 15.39%, Safaricom and KCB have a Dividend Pay Out Ratio of approximately 50%.
Tea Companies are hardly Ultra High Growth companies, which need to conserve their cash fl ow. This mean ‘Black Swan’ Pay out Ra-tio is like the ‘Theatre of the Absurd.’
Could Mr. Collymore or Mr. Oduor-Otieno have paid out such a dividend? In fact, The Blow Back would have been brutal and their share prices impaired.
If my Agenda was to trash the share price, then I would be doing exactly what George Williamson has done and that is why it trades on a PE Ratio of 2.124.
There is nowhere in the world, where any management would still be ‘rusting on its throne’ with its company trading on a PE of 2.124.
Of Course, there are other equally egregious examples but I will leave that for another discus-sion.
Shares go up and down and readers are advised that this column repre-sents Mr Satchu’s personal opinions.
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE - IN THE AGE OF INSTANT COMMUNICATION
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