SAFARICOM TO REPORT H1 EARNINGS FRIDAY

Profit machine Safaricom, a listed telco on the Nairobi Securities Exchange will on Friday tell the market how its business activities performed for six month period ended September 30, 2016.

Things Investors will look for

Investors will take keen interest in the company's Statement of Income. Also known as the Profit and Loss statement, it shows, in figures, the company's operations during the period under review and tells the market whether these operations resulted in a profit or loss.

On May 11 this year it reported full-year earnings of Sh55 billion (US$550million) before tax with net profit coming to Sh38bn ($380m).

In making its forward looking statements at the time, Management said it expected full-year earnings in the year ahead to come in at between Sh89-92bn before deducting Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation.

This compares to EBITDA of Sh83bn the previous year.

Analysts will be right to expect Profit Before Tax to cross the Sh30bn threshold.

MPESA, the Mobile Financial Services product, will attract particular attention for two major reasons.

1. Rapid growth - The service grew revenues by 27 per cent in the last financial year to stand at Sh41bn ($410m) and will expect this growth to be matched contributing to the bottom line.
2. Mobile Betting - At the last briefing, Management indicated that betting companies that use its MPESA service did not contribute significantly to its revenues. This observation will come under greater scrutiny this time round especially given the high profile marketing campaigns and international endorsements that some of the betting companies have been making.

Investors will look out for a possible Interim Dividend. With Free Cash Flow oscillating around Sh30bn, many will be keen to see if the company will choose to give back some of this cash to them.

In the last period reviewed, the Board issued a Dividend of 76 cents per share, an exponential rise from a few years back when investors would bitterly complain about a 10 cents per share dividend.

Investors will also seek Management's Performance Guidance for the second half of the year.

The new Chief Financial Officer, Sateesh Kamath, will be presented to investors for his first Earnings Briefing at Safaricom. He replaced John "JT" Tombleson in the position.

DSTV PRICES FALL TODAY, TARGETS LONG HOLIDAYS WITH NEW CHANNELS

Pay TV company Multichoice will from today slash the prices of its flagship DStv Service while simultaneously announcing the addition of new channels ranging from 4 to 11 depending on the subscription package.

Top of the offering Premium service will from now cost Sh8100 (US$81) per month down from Sh9400.

The bouquet will also see the addition of four HD channels.

Multichoice, which also owns the market leading GOTV digital terrestrial TV (DTT) brand, will cut prices just as the long school holidays begin.

The presence of school kids at home for over two months will convince many parents to take up more channels to cater for the younger audience.

"I usually pay Access (the least expensive) but when the kids close, I have to pay for Compact," Julius, a subscriber at the line at the Sarit Customer Care Shop said earlier today.

A number of other parents take on Extra View to avoid inconveniencing kids.

"Sometimes, you want to stay indoors," Kuria, another subscriber said. "But you cannot watch cartoons the whole day! You are forced to go to the pub to catch the Game. I need another TV"

He said he was paying extra-view.

DStv the leading Satellite pay-TV service on the continent, is navigating difficult terrain with the advent of digital migration and the proliferation of illegal decoders being sold on the black market.

It has however signalled continued confidence in the DStv service with additional investments into new satellites and expanded content.

Already one of the leading Sports content providers, it has with the introduction of Catch Up and Box Office services created access to international shows particularly series within 24 hours of their first showing in the US for instance.

The entry level Access package remains at Sh1,050 a month but will see the addition of three new channels.

At 1,900 the Family package will feature an additional 5 channels while the Sh3500 Compact package will come with 6 new channels.

Compact Plus will now cost Sh5425 down from Sh6,400. It will also come with a whopping 11 additional channels.

DSTV SLASHES PRICES ADDS CHANNELS

Pay TV DStv has announced an across the board slash in subscription prices with top end premium bouquet now costing Sh8,100 ($81) down from Sh9,400 ($94).

It will also carry an additional four HD channels.

The entry level Access package remains at Sh1,050 a month but will see the addition of three new channels.

At 1,900 the Family package will feature an additional 5 channels while the Sh3500 Compact package will come with 6 new channels.

Compact Plus will now cost Sh5425 down from Sh6,400. It will also come with a whopping 11 additional channels.

Meantime, the Premium package will feature 4 new HD channels. DStv, has undergone a series of rapid changes and upgrades in the last year including the rollout of the DStv Explora, a hulking black decoder that carries up to 1 Terabyte of recorded content, and comes with the popular Catch UP service.

Catch Up allows viewers to keep up with the latest US shows within 24 hours of their airing in the US.

PWC VET CHARLES MUCHENE ELECTED BARCLAYS KENYA CHAIRMAN

Charles Kahara Muchene has been elected the chairman of Barclays Bank Kenya to replace the outgoing Francis Okomo-Okello.

The 58-year old accountant by profession also chairs the Board of East Africa Breweries, a position he has held since 2011.

Before that, he was the Senior Partner at PriceWaterhouseCoopers Kenya for 11 years. He has also served on the boards of CFC Stanbic Holdings and CFC Stanbic Bank,

Francis Okomo-Okello, 67, has served as Chairman of the Board of Barclays Bank Kenya since 2005. He is also the chair of the TPS East Africa-Serena Group and the Executive Director in charge of Legal and Corporate Affairs at Industrial Promotion Services (IPS), the industrial development arm of the Aga Khan Fund for Development. IPS has holdings in companies like Farmer's Choice, Premier Foods, Seacom undersea cable among others.

At the Barclays chairmanship, Okomo-Okello replaced Sam Ambundo who had spent more than half a century with the bank. Ambundo had joined the board in 1983 after rising to the position of General Manager in the institution he had joined as a clerk in 1948, earning 83 Shillings a month. He had ascended to the chairmanship in 1996.

Before him was veteran lawyer Sam "SN" Waruhiu who was the first African chairman of the Bank after Barclays Bank Kenya was incorporated.

The Bank which entered the Kenyan market in 1916 as the National Bank of South Africa, was later taken over Barclays DCO (Dominions, Colonies and Overseas) in 1925 when it operated 3 branches.

It would however, not appoint its first Kenyan CEO until 2002 when Adan Mohammed rose from the position of Finance Director to become the MD. Adan Mohammed had been recruited from London and replaced Martin Oduor-Otieno as FD when the latter was named to the Richard Leakey-led Dream Team in 1999 to serve as the Permanent Secretary Treasury.

Muchene as the new Chairman will oversee Barclays at a time of business and regulatory changes.

It's parent company Barclays Africa Limited is to be sold by Barclays PLC as the UK-based lender seeks to reduce its capital requirements for its African holdings. The process of reducing its holdings in BAL to less than the majority stake is expected to take place over the next two years.

BBK is also having to deal with the Banking Amendment Act 2016 which has imposed lending caps for interest charged on loans and set a floor for deposit rates. This is expected to squeeze banks' margins, and drive optimization which is likely to see job losses as automation is implemented for many operations.

KPLC TO PILOT TOSHIBA GAS INSULATED TRANSFORMERS, CUT OIL VANDALISM

National power distributor KPLC will pilot the use of gas-filled transformers in place of the conventional oil insulated ones in a bid to cut losses occasioned by vandalism.

The utility suffers millions of dollars in losses annually owing to vandalism who seek to drain transformer oil for sale.

This leaves the transformers without insulation causing them to blow whenever it rains.

In an MoU with Toshiba Transmission and Distribution India, a 100% owned subsidiary of Toshiba Energy of Japan, KPLC will pilot three technologies that if successful will see it adopt the technology for its nationwide network.

Dr. Katsutoshi Toda, the MD of TTDI said the new Gas Insulated Transformers were capable of replacing the entire stock of conventional transformers on the Kenya Power grid.

These transformers are however about 1.5 times more expensive than conventional transformers because they are yet to go into mass production.

However, they will be roughly the same size but slightly lighter as they will be filled with carbon dioxide gas instead of transformer oil.

TTDI is currently supplying KPLC with 12,000 conventional transformers. This is after KPLC last year decided to stop dealing with traders and brokers for critical equipment and opted for original equipment manufacturers who can provide 5-year warranties for their equipment.

GOTV GRABS 56% MARKET SHARE AS DTT PAY TV CLOCKS 3M USERS

As GOTV turns five years old in Kenya, it has now reached 56% of digital terrestrial TV subscribers, with rival Startimes coming in at 40% while Bamba and Azam trail far behind at about 1.5% each.

Latest figures indicate GOTV had 1,730,279 subscribers by the end of June 2016 while Startimes was at 1,268,419 users.

With Azam TV and Bamba/KTN, the number of formerly analogue TV viewers who have digitally migrated to DTT decoders has now surpassed 3million users country wide.

A good number are also on Satellite provider DStv, and cable TV Zuku.

GOTV used both its early mover advantage but also better pricing and content leveraged on its parent Multichoice's 20 year experience in the country to establish market leadership.

The fast growth in digital TV users vindicates the Communication Authority of Kenya's tough stance against local broadcasters who sought to frustrate the digital migration process.

Kenya is now one of the few African countries that have been able to fully migrate to DTT.

GOTV will tomorrow celebrate its five years of existence since 2011.

This is the current comparison of the market players pricing:

DTT PROVIDER	DECODER PRICE	BOUQUET
BAMBA	3599	FTA
GOtv	1999	Lite: 160 per month, 375 per quarter, 840 per year Value: 470 Plus: 920
STARTIMES	Pay TV: 1800 Free to air: 4399	Nyota: 199 Bas ic: 499 Classic: 999 Unique: 1499
AZAM	3800 for decoder	Azam Play: 870 pm Azam Plus: 500 pm Indian bouquet: 800 pm Azam Pure: 200 per month

 :

GOTV CUTS MONTHLY PRICES TO SH160 AS RIO KICKS OFF

GOTV the market leader in TV subscriptions in the country, has announced price cuts for its various bouquets with the lowest package,

The move comes as the Rio Olympics kick off on August 5th. GOTV and DStv will be carrying the games.

Zuku and Startimes won't have coverage of the Olympics owing to lack of TV broadcast rights.

GOTV Lite is now going for Sh160 (US$1.58) for access to 16 channels including Supersport Blitz.

Subscribers can pay Sh840 ($8.29) for a full-year subscription.

GOTV Value package also drops in price from Sh650 to Sh470 per month.

The premium package GOTV Plus remains at Sh920 a month and will feature three additional Supersport Channels, 5,7 and 12 dedicated to covering the Rio Olympics.

Supersport 12 will be a 24-hour Olympics news channel produced by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The GOTV decoder and antenna will now retail for Sh2999 down from Sh3999.

Olympic coverage begins on August 5 while the new bouquet prices take effect from August 20.

The Lite package is the cheapest in the market as GOTV which has more than 50 per cent of all TV subscriptions in the country, looks to extend it market share,

Also in the market is Bamba TV which recently was bought by KTN ( Kenya Television Network), Azam, Citizen ADN among others.

Zuku and DStv are currently renegotiating their licenses with the regulator, Communications Authority of Kenya while some new entrants will be expected.