href=”http://www.safaricom.co.ke/”> Safaricom’s share price has remained above its listing value for the longest period since the company went public, according to Kenya’s Daily Nation.
The popular newspaper attributed this performance to the fact that market analysts maintained an upbeat outlook on the telecom’s future growth and earnings.
“Better-than-expected half-year earnings and an optimistic outlook for full-year revenue for the leading mobile operator have kept the trading activity on the counter intense as investors take long-term positions,” the newspaper said on its website.
It said according to an analysis by Morgan Stanley, a global financial services company, Safaricom seemed to be increasingly well positioned in improving the Kenyan mobile phone market given its low “out-of-bundle data tariffs.”
These tariffs were stimulating the mobile internet market, a strong mobile money transfer platform in M-Pesa, and the company’s diversification into the loans and savings segment through its M-Shwari.
The Daily Nation said this had raised investor appetite for and confidence in the operator’s counter, with expectations of improved earnings going forward.
“We have upgraded our FY14 (2014 Financial Year) EPS (earnings per share) by 25 per cent since June 2012 as tight cost control has dovetailed with stronger voice revenues,” Morgan Stanley said in a research note on the mobile phone company.
Since the cut of the mobile termination rate (MTR) late last year, the counter has received strong local and foreign investor support, pushing up its share price.
In January, the mobile operator’s counter continued to attract strong foreign investor interest, pushing up the share price to an average of Sh5.45 and market capitalisation to Sh216.6 billion ($2.5 million).