Ghana's biggest mutual investment fund, Epack, has bounced back from a
poor 2011 showing to close at GH¢1.0291 per share, up from the GH¢0.8773
recorded in 2011.
The fund gained 17.31 per cent in cedi terms but actually lost some
negative 1.4 per cent in dollar terms, which its Executive Chairman,
Keli Gadzekpo, attributes to the depreciation of the cedi in 2012.
This reflects the impressive performance of most African stock markets,
including Ghana, particularly in the last quarter of 2012.
While Epack’s exposure to Malawi and Mauritius reduced on the back of
currency weakness, its holdings in Nigeria surged up by 165 per cent due
to a combination of stock purchases of 39 per cent increase and share
price rallies.
Again, the fund’s holding in the banking sector also surged to 53 per
cent despite the profit taking undertaken during the year.
As at December 2012, the fund had invested in 11 stock markets in
Africa and is expected to concentrate on sectors with strong
fundamentals.
The balanced fund, which is cedi investment medium to long-term fund,
has also recorded an annual return of 16.8 per cent, up from the 7.35
per cent it recorded in 2011.
The fund closed the year with a total of 6,233 shareholders. The fixed
income market is expected to return considerable gains as interest
continued to remain high in the first quarter of 2013.
The money market fund(MFund) also closed the year at an annualised
yield of 14.8 per cent, which was an improvement of the 2011 yield of
12.18 per cent.
Unfortunately, the return on MFund was lower than the average annual
yield of the 91-Day T- bills of 18.63 per cent. MFund’s yield was low
due to the fact that T-bill rate rose very quickly in 2012 from 10.81
per cent at the start of the year to 12.61 per cent in March 2012.
Ark Fund, on the other hand, rode on the back of increased stock
returns and interest rates in 2012 to record a return of 16.39 per cent
in 2012. This was an improvement over the 2011 return of 5.88 per cent.
The fund ended the year with assets under management worth GH¢2.6
million. The total number of shareholders of the Ark Fund also increased
by 493 shareholders.
Showing posts with label business opportunities. Show all posts
Showing posts with label business opportunities. Show all posts
Saturday, 27 July 2013
Create right environment for private sector
President John Dramani Mahama has urged African governments to create
the right environment for the private sector to play a significant role
in their respective economies.
He again called on his colleague African leaders to promote value-addition to the natural resources in their countries.
President Mahama, who made the call in his address at the Forbes Afrique forum in the Congo last Tuesday, said those measures were crucial because African countries needed to reorient their economies away from what was prescribed to them by their colonial masters and the international financial institutions.
He said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank had one prescription for all the economic maladies in African countries, a situation which worsened poverty in Africa.
Hosted by the Congolese President, Dennis Sassou N’guesso, the forum focused on the emerging middle class in Africa and what the continent needed to do to reduce or eradicate poverty.
A former United Nations Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, a number of African leaders, as well as high-level business executives in Africa, took part in the forum.
President Mahama was in Congo for a two-day working visit at the invitation of President N’guesso.
The two leaders had earlier held a meeting and pledged their commitment to deepen trade, diplomatic and cultural relations between Ghana and the Congo.
President Mahama’s address at the forum touched on the chequered political history of Africa from the late 1960s and the various structural adjustment programmes, and considered the human and natural potential of Africa and prospects for the continent.
Private sector/value addition
The President recalled that when he was a Minister of Communications 15 years ago, at a time efforts were being made to deregulate the telecommunications sector, many people said if the private sector came in it could threaten the security of the state.
“Today, I look back and see how far not only Ghana but also the whole of Africa has come in respect of the telecom sector,” he said.
President Mahama said what was achieved in the telecom sector could be replicated in other sectors, particularly energy and transport.
“Let us deregulate the energy sector and let the private sector invest and produce energy to feed industry and for domestic consumption. Let the private sector invest in transport and be able to move our people across the continent,” he said.
Touching on value-addition, he said the Ghana government intended to build an integrated aluminium project by fitting in the missing link to mine bauxite, produce alumina and feed the alumina to the VALCO aluminium smelter to either export or use it locally.
In addition, he said, the government would build a gold refinery in Ghana to refine gold and build a jewellery industry to be able to export world-class jewellery.
Political development
Most African countries, including Ghana, President Mahama said, made some progress after independence.
He noted, however, that eventually coups d’etat started to take place, with the governance of many countries alternating between military and civilian leaders.
“From the late 1960s until the early 1990s, we existed in a state of instability. And, of course, you cannot have any progress where you have instability and conflict,” he said.
Structural adjustment
The President said aside from the instability that Africa inflicted on itself, the continent was misled by international financial institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank.
For instance, he said, the structural adjustment programme, which called for the removal of all subsidies in the 1970s, worsened poverty in Africa.
“There were no safety nets put in place to cushion the poor and the vulnerable while we were readjusting the economy and so agriculture suffered,’’ he said.
President Mahama said today, the world had recognised that it was necessary for society to progress as one, since no country could achieve the kind of progress it desired if one section of society lived in absolute wealth while the majority wallowed in poverty.
Therefore, he said, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) had been developed, with a resolution by countries to cut to half, poverty, achieve universal primary education, eradicate HIV/AIDS, reduce by half maternal mortality and ensure access to clean drinking water by 2015.
“What this shows is that typical capitalist concepts of economics to fix economies will not work on a continent like Africa. You need to advance the nations of this continent in unison and not in segments,” he said.
He again called on his colleague African leaders to promote value-addition to the natural resources in their countries.
President Mahama, who made the call in his address at the Forbes Afrique forum in the Congo last Tuesday, said those measures were crucial because African countries needed to reorient their economies away from what was prescribed to them by their colonial masters and the international financial institutions.
He said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank had one prescription for all the economic maladies in African countries, a situation which worsened poverty in Africa.
Hosted by the Congolese President, Dennis Sassou N’guesso, the forum focused on the emerging middle class in Africa and what the continent needed to do to reduce or eradicate poverty.
A former United Nations Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, a number of African leaders, as well as high-level business executives in Africa, took part in the forum.
President Mahama was in Congo for a two-day working visit at the invitation of President N’guesso.
The two leaders had earlier held a meeting and pledged their commitment to deepen trade, diplomatic and cultural relations between Ghana and the Congo.
President Mahama’s address at the forum touched on the chequered political history of Africa from the late 1960s and the various structural adjustment programmes, and considered the human and natural potential of Africa and prospects for the continent.
Private sector/value addition
The President recalled that when he was a Minister of Communications 15 years ago, at a time efforts were being made to deregulate the telecommunications sector, many people said if the private sector came in it could threaten the security of the state.
“Today, I look back and see how far not only Ghana but also the whole of Africa has come in respect of the telecom sector,” he said.
President Mahama said what was achieved in the telecom sector could be replicated in other sectors, particularly energy and transport.
“Let us deregulate the energy sector and let the private sector invest and produce energy to feed industry and for domestic consumption. Let the private sector invest in transport and be able to move our people across the continent,” he said.
Touching on value-addition, he said the Ghana government intended to build an integrated aluminium project by fitting in the missing link to mine bauxite, produce alumina and feed the alumina to the VALCO aluminium smelter to either export or use it locally.
In addition, he said, the government would build a gold refinery in Ghana to refine gold and build a jewellery industry to be able to export world-class jewellery.
Political development
Most African countries, including Ghana, President Mahama said, made some progress after independence.
He noted, however, that eventually coups d’etat started to take place, with the governance of many countries alternating between military and civilian leaders.
“From the late 1960s until the early 1990s, we existed in a state of instability. And, of course, you cannot have any progress where you have instability and conflict,” he said.
Structural adjustment
The President said aside from the instability that Africa inflicted on itself, the continent was misled by international financial institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank.
For instance, he said, the structural adjustment programme, which called for the removal of all subsidies in the 1970s, worsened poverty in Africa.
“There were no safety nets put in place to cushion the poor and the vulnerable while we were readjusting the economy and so agriculture suffered,’’ he said.
President Mahama said today, the world had recognised that it was necessary for society to progress as one, since no country could achieve the kind of progress it desired if one section of society lived in absolute wealth while the majority wallowed in poverty.
Therefore, he said, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) had been developed, with a resolution by countries to cut to half, poverty, achieve universal primary education, eradicate HIV/AIDS, reduce by half maternal mortality and ensure access to clean drinking water by 2015.
“What this shows is that typical capitalist concepts of economics to fix economies will not work on a continent like Africa. You need to advance the nations of this continent in unison and not in segments,” he said.
Vanguard Assurance to list on the GSE
Citi Business News has gathered that Vanguard Assurance will soon list
on the Ghana Stock Exchange as efforts to increase the bourse liquidity
deepen.
Vanguard Assurance which is into Life and Non-Life insurance is expected to make an Initial Public Offering (IPO) soon to enable prospective investors take advantage of the offer and subsequent listing.
“What we have discussed so far is the prospect of Vanguard Assurance and I believe if they should fast track their processes, we should possibly see a public offer as far as they are concerned,” Managing Director of the Ghana Stock Exchange, Kofi Yamoah told Citi Business News.
The Ghana Stock Exchange is currently prospecting for companies under the Ghana Alternative Market geared at SME’s.
“We have had very firm indications from about six of such companies; once they get the ball rolling as in passing the necessary boardroom resolutions, and appointing advisors then they will begin to run as far as the process is concerned; and for that, I believe if not end of year, probably we are looking at the first quarter of 2014,” said Mr Yamoah
Vanguard Assurance which is into Life and Non-Life insurance is expected to make an Initial Public Offering (IPO) soon to enable prospective investors take advantage of the offer and subsequent listing.
“What we have discussed so far is the prospect of Vanguard Assurance and I believe if they should fast track their processes, we should possibly see a public offer as far as they are concerned,” Managing Director of the Ghana Stock Exchange, Kofi Yamoah told Citi Business News.
The Ghana Stock Exchange is currently prospecting for companies under the Ghana Alternative Market geared at SME’s.
“We have had very firm indications from about six of such companies; once they get the ball rolling as in passing the necessary boardroom resolutions, and appointing advisors then they will begin to run as far as the process is concerned; and for that, I believe if not end of year, probably we are looking at the first quarter of 2014,” said Mr Yamoah
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