IGIHE

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  • EABL Stock in Nosedive Ahead of Annual Results

    {{East African Breweries (EABL’s) share price continued its trajectory of consistent decline ahead of the expected release of the beer maker’s annual results on Friday.}}

    EABL’ share closed at Sh305, a 13% drop from Sh349, the July 30 price when the firm issued a profit warning.

    A profit warning is a regulatory requirement that is issued when a company expects its earnings to drop by at least 25% of the level reported in the previous reporting period.

    “EABL was amongst the top movers today, with foreign investors providing most of the demand and local investors providing supply (553,000 shares).

    ‘‘The brewer continued to witness a bear run easing 2.9% to Sh305,” said a market report by Standard Investment Bank.

    The EABL stock has been on a gradual decline as investors factored in the impact of the profit warning, which signals a drop in the company’s generous dividends payout over the years.

    “Based on our valuation, the company’s full-year dividend will probably fall to about Sh7.75 per share compared with Sh8.75 a year earlier,” said a market report by Old Mutual Securities.

    EABL said that it was expecting profitability to decrease by at least 25% due to high cost of finance on the loan it took from its parent company, Diageo, to re-purchase its stake from south African brewer SABMiller.

  • Kenyan banks lead African peers in SME lending

    {{Kenyan commercial banks are earning the highest proportion of income from lending cash to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) compared to other African lenders, a World Bank survey has established.}}

    More than a fifth (20.5%) of Kenyan banks’ net income is earned from lending to SMEs, nearly double the proportion that Nigerian banks make from the mid-sized enterprises according to the World Bank research released last week.

    South African banks trace 15% of their income from lending to SMEs, Tanzanian lenders make 16%, while Rwanda comes closest to Kenya at 20%.

    “The difference between Kenya and most other sub-Saharan African countries is that innovation started through a combination of microfinance-rooted institutions scaling up to becoming commercial banks and innovation with lending models and technology in the retail banking segment by other institutions, most notably Equity Bank,” states the report authored by World Bank researchers, Gunhild Berg and Michael Fuchs.

    In Kenya, the research found that 17.4% of total bank lending goes to SMEs, whereas it stands at 17.0% in Rwanda. Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania lag behind in SMEs’ share of total bank lending at five, eight and 14% respectively.

    {agencies}

  • Police Impound 432 Sachets of Illegal Gin

    {{Police in Gicumbi District, on Tuesday seized 432 sachets of chief waragi and 16 litres of kanyanga.}}

    Sachets were recovered in Cyumba sector, Nyaruka cell while kanyanga was recovered in Manyagiro sector in Kabuga cell.

    The District Police Commander, Chief Supt. Fred Ndoli, said the fight against drug trade and consumption in the area has led to the arrest of many dealers.

    “We work with the public, motorists and conducts targeted operations, cordon-and-search, and the Uganda Police force; this has helped us to get more information on the dealers, and most of them arrested,” he explained.

    “We have had cases where cyclists, on identifying that some of the luggage given to them are illegal; they bring them to us and provide us with information of the owner.

    We are now going an extra mile to establish an anti-crime club in motorists, to supplement the current strategies against crimes, and to boost our mobilizations,” he added.

    source:RNP

  • WikiLeaks Source Manning Sentenced to 35 years

    {{US Army Private Bradley Manning was sentenced to 35 years in jail and dishonorably discharged Wednesday for the biggest breach of official secrets in American history.}}

    Military judge Colonel Denise Lind delivered her verdict after a months long trial for Manning, who passed a massive cache of classified government documents to WikiLeaks, the anti secrecy website headed by Julian Asange.

    Manning, 25, appeared ashen faced as he awaited the verdict, which came in a less than two minute statement by Lind.

    A video link to the courtroom at Fort Meade military base near Washington cut out as soon as Lind stopped speaking.

    The soldier was convicted of espionage and other crimes last month, having earlier admitted being the source of hundreds of thousands of battlefield reports from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and confidential US diplomatic cables.

    His sentencing is considered especially important as another leaker the former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, currently in Russia is wanted in the United States on espionage charges, having disclosed details of the National Security Agency’s secret electronic monitoring operations.

    Military prosecutors on Monday pressed for a 60 year prison term for Manning, arguing that the penalty would send a message to people contemplating the theft of classified information.

    Lead defense attorney David Coombs, however, appealed for leniency for his client. He said Manning had expressed remorse, cooperated with the court and deserved a chance to have a family and one day walk free.

    Coombs is scheduled to speak to reporters at 1:30 pm (1730 GMT) and outline the next steps in the soldier’s case, which may well include against the 35 year sentence, which will receive a 1,293 day discount for time he has already served.

    Manning was a junior intelligence analyst at a US base near Baghdad when he handed over the data about 700,000 documents to WikiLeaks.

    The soldier was arrested in Iraq in 2010 and has been in military custody since. The documents that he disclosed rankled American allies when WikiLeaks published them, prompting warnings from US officials that troops and intelligence sources had been jeopardized.

    The most notorious breach was a video and audio file, dubbed “Collateral Murder” by WikiLeaks, showing graphic cockpit footage of two US Apache attack helicopters opening fire and killing 12 people in Baghdad in 2007.

    Manning, a hero to supporters who regard him as a whistleblower who lifted the lid on America’s foreign policy, was found guilty of 20 of the 22 charges leveled against him.

    AFP

  • Bashir Calls for African Economic Independence

    {{The Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir has urged the finance ministers and central banks governors of the African bloc to declare the economic independence of the continent, saying that Africa has huge natural and human resources which qualify it to emerge as a new economic power.}}

    Bashir, who was speaking at the opening session of the African bloc meetings of Finance Ministers and Central Bank governors on Wednesday in Khartoum, called for attracting foreign investments and offering grants and loans to achieve sustainable development.

    “Sudan’s doors are wide open for foreign investments in all sectors, specifically agriculture and infrastructure”, he said

    The Sudanese leader also pointed to the importance of allocating adequate resources for job creation and woman development.

    Bashir noted that Africans suffers from poverty, hunger and lack of funding for infrastructure which hinders development and therefore necessitates cooperation among African countries to work within the International monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) to remove all obstacles.

    He added that Sudan looks forward to seeing tangible results which could help achieve the desired economic growth, pointing to the importance of human resource development.

    The meeting, which lasts for two days, discusses economic and development issues of the African continent and dealing with the IMF and the WB on how to help these countries to fight poverty and achieve development and economic growth.

    Sudan’s Minister of Finance and National Economy who is also the Chairman of African Central Bank governors, Ali Mahmood Abdel-Rasool has described the meeting “as opportunity for Sudan to present its economic policies and contributions in Africa”.

    Abdel-Rasool was quoted by state media as saying that that the conference will review major issues concerning energy, infrastructures and agriculture, noting that Sudan is an agricultural country and in need of infrastructure in that sector .

    He disclosed that Sudan is now implementing a joint project with the WB in the fields of agriculture and energy pointing out that Sudan has good experience in building of dams and power generation.

    {wirestory}

  • S.Africa’s biggest Mine Union to Take Strike Vote in Gold Sector

    {{South Africa’s National Union of Mineworkers said on Wednesday it would ballot its members this week on whether to go on strike after wage talks in the gold sector stalled.}}

    “We will go and consult with our members and put it to a vote. We are going to strike there is no question about it, I just can’t say when,” NUM spokesman Lesiba Seshoka told Reuters.

    The country’s chamber of mines said it was still in talks with the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union and the Solidarity union, but NUM matters the most as it represents about 64 percent of the workforce in the gold mines.

  • Kenyan Cannibal Pleads Guilty to Killing, Eating Ghanaian

    {{A Kenyan man who had been charged with killing a Ghanaian housemate and eating his heart and brains has pleaded guilty in a US court.}}

    Alexander Kinyua, 22, told a Harford County judge in Maryland Monday that he killed his friend with an axe and ate his heart.

    But in his ruling, judge Stephen Waldron found the defendant not criminally responsible for the act due to what he termed as mental illness.

    The ruling means that Kinyua, who prior to the bizarre incident was a Mechanical Engineering student at Morgan State University, will now be committed to a mental health facility indefinitely.

    He was quickly whisked away to the state’s maximum-security psychiatric hospital after the ruling.

    The court heard that on May 25 last year, Kinyua killed Kujoe Bonsafo Agyei-Kodie with an axe while he slept.

    He also dismembered the body, consumed the heart, hid the head and hands in the home and placed the remaining body parts in a trash bin in a nearby church parking lot.

    {{GRUESOME FIND}}

    The gruesome find was made by Kinyua’s father, who called a Harford County detective and told him that he had come across two metal tins containing human body parts covered by a blanket in the basement laundry room, the court heard.

    “The tins contained the head and two hands of the housemate who lived in Joppatowne, Maryland, and had been reported missing. Police found the rest of the victim’s remains in a dumpster,” said Harford County State’s Attorney Joseph Cassilly.

    On Monday, prosecutors made a grisly description of how the murder was committed saying they discovered a charred serving dish in which Kujoe dismembered hands and other body parts were placed.

    Before the ruling, Percess Veronica Mattison, a longtime family friend of the slain Ghanaian told the judge that the murder had devastated the victim’s family.

    {{IRREPLACEABLE LOSS}}

    “We all could see him soaring to great heights in the world. This was not to be,” Ms Mattison said.

    “He was slaughtered in the most brutal, inhumane fashion by Alexander Kinyua. This is an irreplaceable loss accompanied by much pain.”

    She disagreed with the psychiatrist’s findings that Kinyua was of unsound mind when he committed the crime.

    “Someone acting with such care to conceal evidence, and demonstrating the capacity to cover his tracks so competently does not appear to be experiencing a mental deficiency,” Ms Mattison said.

    “Alexander did not impulsively commit the crime, he prepared Kujoe for consumption,” she said.

    But Kinyua spoke softly as he responded to questions from the judge. He said that the medications he has been taking were helping him.

    A psychiatric assessment determined that Kinyua was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, which is a mental condition.

    {NMG}

  • Tsvangirai files appeal against Electoral Court ruling

    {{Morgan Tsvangirai has appealed to the Supreme Court against the Electoral Court’s decision which denied him access to the election material and recommended the prosecution of his lawyers on contempt of court charges.}}

    Mr Tsvangirai, who suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of President Mugabe in the presidential election, had sought an order compelling the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to furnish him with election evidence to prove his case at the Constitutional Court.

    He has since dropped his poll challenge claiming that the judiciary was an appendage of Zanu-PF and would rule against him.

    In his judgment on Tuesday, Justice Chinembiri Bhunu made a finding that Mr Tsvangirai’s lawyers conduct bordered on contempt of court and he referred a copy of the judgment to the Attorney General for prosecution.

    The court ruled that his lawyers were in contempt of court for making scathing attacks on the Judiciary through the dossier filed in a presidential petition filed by Mr Tsvangirai at the Constitutional Court.

    It is not clear why Mr Tsvangirai was appealing against the lower court’s decision when the Constitutional Court upheld the victory of President Mugabe and declared the elections as free, fair and credible.

    President Mugabe will be sworn in today giving him the mandate to lead the country for another five-year term.

    In the notice of appeal filed yesterday at the Supreme Court, Mr Tsvangirai argues that the Electoral Court erred in referring the judgment to the AG without hearing the lawyers’ side of the story in relation to the alleged contempt of court.

    {Herald}

  • Europe Shies Away From Cutting Aid for Egypt

    {{The European Union stopped short of agreeing immediate cuts in financial or military assistance to Cairo on Wednesday, as the bloc’s foreign ministers held emergency talks to find ways to help bring an end to violence in Egypt.}}

    The decision acknowledges Europe’s limited economic muscle in forcing Egypt’s army-backed rulers and the Muslim Brotherhood supporters of deposed President Mohamed Mursi into a peaceful compromise.

    It also reflects a concern that abruptly cutting aid could shut dialogue with Cairo’s military rulers and damage Europe’s ability to mediate in any future negotiations to end the worst internal strife in Egypt’s modern history.

    The European Union, seen as more neutral than the United States, which provides aid to Egypt’s military, has emerged a key player in Egypt since the army deposed Mursi on July 3. The new government allowed the EU’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton to become the first foreign official to see him in detention.

    “The principles of our policy are to support democratic institutions, not to take sides,” British Foreign Secretary William Hague told reporters after meeting his EU counterparts in Brussels.

    “It is to continue to promote political dialogue and being able to maintain a position where we can continue to do that.”

    The ministers agreed to review any financial aid given to Egypt but said assistance to civil society would continue.

    They also agreed to suspend exports to Egypt of any equipment that can be used for internal repression and review any arms sales, though stopping short of explicitly agreeing to end such trade.

  • Syrian Forces Bombard Damascus Suburbs

    {{Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces bombarded rebel-held suburbs of Damascus on Thursday, activists said, keeping up pressure on the besieged region a day after the opposition accused the army of gassing hundreds in a chemical weapons attack.}}

    With Wednesday’s death toll estimated between 500 and 1,300, what would be the world’s most lethal chemical weapons attack since the 1980s prompted an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council in New York.

    Opposition activists said men, women and children were killed as they slept.

    The council did not explicitly demand a U.N. investigation of the incident, although it said “clarity” was needed and welcomed U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon’s calls for a prompt investigation by the U.N. inspection team in Syria, led by Ake Sellstrom.

    An earlier Western-drafted statement submitted to the council, seen by Reuters, was not approved. The final version of the statement was watered down to accommodate objections from Russia and China, diplomats said. Moscow and Beijing have vetoed previous Western efforts to impose U.N. penalties on Assad.

    The Syrian opposition said President Bashar al-Assad’s forces fired rockets that released deadly fumes over rebel-held eastern Damascus suburbs, which are part of what is known as the Ghouta.

    The area is an expanse of old farmland dotted with large built up areas inhabited mostly by members of Syria’s Sunni Muslim majority that have been at the forefront of the uprising against Assad’s Alawite rule.

    Assad’s Shi’ite backer Iran said the Syrian government could not have been behind the possible chemical weapon attack as Assad had the upper hand in the fighting.

    A report by the opposition al-Sham Research Center said the use of chemical weapons on a scale unseen since their use was first reported last year is “a message” from Assad to Turkey and the Arab Sunni backers of the revolt.

    They appeared to have increased their support for the armed opposition, and the attack showed that Assad was not afraid of escalating the conflict, unleashing a new wave or refugees and destabilizing the region, the center said.

    {wirestory}