Feature of the week:
Co-operative Bank Obtains KES 750.0 million loan in SME Lending
- Co-operative bank has obtained KES 750.0 million from the African Guarantee Fund (AGF) for micro, small and medium-sized (SME) lending for green energy and solar installation projects.
- The partnership with AGF will provide guarantees for the bank’s loan facilities.
- According to AGF, the partnership reflects the fund’s commitment to increase financing of businesses in the green sector
- According to the bank’s management, the challenge bankers and other financiers have had with respect to solar energy is that of securities offered – with solar panels and inverters providing poor security as they are not easily resold.
- The bank hopes that as the prices of solar solutions become more affordable and AGF continues to develop other products, Co-op will be able to finance solar products that reach an even greater number of Kenyans.
Commentary
- The bank had previously obtained a KES 8.3 billion loan for micro, small and medium-sized (SME) lending from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) – the private arm of the World Bank, to support firms that were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
- We opine that the funding will encourage the bank to lend more to the sector. We note that as at 1Q2021, 48.4% of the bank’s loan book was in personal consumer loans (1Q2020: 44.7%). However 4.5% was in SME down from 6.3% in 1Q2020.
Equities Market Summary:
Nairobi Securities Exchange Performance
The All Share Index (NASI) and the NSE 20 fell by 2.7% w/w and 1.1% w/w to close the week at 177.81 and 2,039.75 respectively. Market turnover edged up by 28.0% to KES 3.2 billion while number of shares traded declined by 5.1% to 72.4 million shares. There were price declines on most counters. Notable price declines this week included; Equity (5.2% w/w to KES 50.50), KCB (3.0% w/w to KES 47.10), Standard Chartered (3.3% w/w to KES 130.00), Britam (2.9% w/w to KES 8.08), Co-operative (2.2% w/w to KES 13.20) and NCBA (2.2% w/w to KES 27.05). Safaricom fell by 3.2% w/w to KES 41.80. Investors can advantage of the price declines to accumulate fundamentally strong counters such as KCB and Safaricom.
Recommendations:
KCB – Neutral