Mumias Sugar Continues Shine

Going by media reports and mere observation, Mumias sugar continues in its shine after winning the bid to set up a mill for the Tana river sugar. the prospects are very good and the sugar cane is reported to mature in only 10 months at the coast as opposed to 18 months in western kenya. apart from that the world may be facing a sugar crisis of sorts as most millers turn to biofuel production and china mops up the only available sugar. it appears the consumers will be left crying but the investors in the top miller will be laughing all the way to the till. even better is the fact that the govt is going to divest more from the miller meaning that it will have govt support but no undue influence. my speculation is that if things go as planned then Mumias is about to do a KQ dance if not better. it may shortly join the likes of EABL, KQ and Safaricom as the top companies in Kenya. Verdict? Buy now.

But if that is true then this worries me. am told that farmers in the South Nyanza and its environs are normaly forced to destroy their crop because Sony sugar does not have the capacity or the will to crush their cane. in fact am told that jaggaries (sic) are doing a roaring business there since the farmers are desperate. Sony cannot crush your cane unless you are well connected so the jaggaries buy cheaply from them. the jaggaries are sold to molasses and sweets companies cheaply. cant we do the same thing we did with mumias so that kenya can gain from this one too?
Elsewhere Safaricom is set to announce what is poised to become the hieghest profit ever i east and central Africa. Phew! elbowing aside EABL and KQ and establishing itself as the voice of business in the region. Quite a feat in only 6 years. a lot of things have been said about the mobile service provider but i think their success has a lot to do with how they treat their dealers and employees. that safaricom employees are some of the best renumerated in the region is no secret. yet this is a very young company. only 6. and secondly they have a revenue sharing plan with the dealers. dealers are given lifetime commisions called residuals for selling safaricom lines. what it means is that if a dealer sells you a line , he earns a percentage of all the money you use to top up for as long as you live. How is that for motivation? However i always feel uneasy each time safaricom announces its results. reason? I dont own even fraction of that company. no kenyan does.

Be that as it may, i keep wondering why pple keep saying that when everready lists sameer africa share will go up. sameer africa does not own everready. i am aware that its sameer group which has shares in the battery manufacturer. Sameer Africa deals in tyres both imported and localy made. Sameer group is the holding company of Merali and there are many other companies under that banner including celtel. and by the way what is this about everready wanting to do and IPO and at the same time thinking of relocating to egypt. so they want to take our money and invest it elsewhere?

Meanwhile about 3000 Railways employees are about to face the sack as the transporter starts a new era. the employees are set to vacate the houses in 3 months time. i wonder what KR or RVR will do with the houses and the vast land they have. in fact i think RVR will have a lot or real estate to use or disuse. but i think their greatest asset may just be their history. the history of kenya and that of the railway are intertwined in fact for some of us we knew the only way to get to nairobi was by train since it was a very far off land. that added to the mystery of the cold heaven called Nairobi since pple going there could only go at night. apart from that they had loads and loads of stories to tell when they were back about their adventures in the train. i may be wrong but i think every kenyan has a relative or is close to someone who once worked for either KR or EARH


Odegle tip of the day -- if you are too faint hearted for the rollercoaster of the equities market, try out the relative comfort ride in the bonds and papers market