Tag: GreatLakesNews

{{TransCentury has exited Rift Valley Railways (RVR) after it sold its shareholding in the firm to Citadel Capital of Egypt.}}

The listed firm sold its 34% stake in RVR to Citadel Capital but it did not indicate the value of the transaction which will result in Citadel’s shareholding increasing to 85% from 51% while Uganda’s Bomi Holdings will hold on to the remaining 15%.

TransCentury decided to sell its investment which had started to pay off after a seven-year wait that has seen shareholding change hands amongst a number of investors.

“We have been part of the RVR story for the past seven years and helped steer the company through some very challenging times.

RVR is vital to the economies of Kenya and Uganda and TransCentury remains fully in support of the Company.

We wish Citadel Capital and the team at RVR all the best as they continue to see through the turnaround of the railway,” said TransCentury chairman Zephaniah Gitau Mbugua in a statement.

TransCentury first invested in RVR in December 2006 when it acquired a 20% stake.

This later increased to 34% in May 2010, the same year that also saw Citadel become a shareholder.

{{Oil prices fell on Monday as dealers booked profits after strong gains last week fuelled by positive US economic data and the tensions in Ukraine.}}

New York’s West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in May fell 43 cents to $101.24 a barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for May dipped 28 cents to stand at $107.79 a barrel in London afternoon deals.

“We are seeing some easing because of some profit taking,” Tan Chee Tat, an investment analyst at Phillip Futures, told AFP.

WTI prices got a boost last week from data showing robust US consumer spending.

UKRAINE CRISIS

Orders for US durable goods — a key indicator of the economy — rose 2.2 percent in February from the prior month, beating expectations for a 1.0-percent decline.

Investors are also tracking events in Europe as the top diplomats from the US and Russia held talks to find a solution to the crisis in Ukraine.

Russian troops are massed on the borders of eastern Ukraine, sparking fears about Moscow’s plans after it took control of the Crimean peninsula this month.

While the two failed Sunday to reach a breakthrough deal in Paris they did agree to keep talking after what were described as “frank” and “constructive” negotiations.

The latest bid to resolve the worst East-West standoff in the post-Cold War era came after Russian leader Vladimir Putin unexpectedly called US President Barack Obama on Friday.

Russia provides about a quarter of Europe’s natural gas supplies, with about half of those exports travelling through pipelines in Ukraine, analysts say.

Traders fear that an escalation of the crisis would disrupt those supplies.

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{{Child under nutrition caused by hunger is causing an estimated loss of between 1.9% and 16.5% of gross domestic products (GDP) among African countries as costs to health and productivity per year, a new study shows.}}

The study titled “Cost of Hunger in Africa” which in its first phase gives statistics from Egypt, Uganda, Ethiopia and Swaziland says that between 40 and 67% of the working age population in the four countries were stunted as children resulting to low productivity.

The experts say that the stunted children are vulnerable to health problems, repeating grades or drop from schools due to underperformance and therefore increase costs for taking care of them.

They say the cases of stunting in Africa today is more than it was some 20 years back and therefore call for specific countries to take appropriate measures to tame the vice and ensure inclusive development in the continent.

The report was launched on March 28that the seventh Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to unveil the impact of child under-nutrition on the African economies.

“We need to work with the private sector as well as smallholder farmers in addressing,” said Manoj Juneja, assistant executive director resource management and chief financial officer, World Food Programme.

Uganda spends around $254 million per year treating cases of diarrhoea, anaemia and respiratory infections linked to malnutrition.

The early deaths among children each year of causes related to hunger reduce Uganda’s labour force by some 3.8%.

That amounts to some 934 million working hours lost every year due to an absent workforce.

Ethiopia lost an estimated $4.7 billion in 2009 because of child undernutrition. This is equivalent to 16.5% of the country’s GDP which is often used as an indicator of how an economy is performing.

In Egypt, the study concluded that 40% of adults were stunted as children. This represents more than 20 million people of working age who are not able to achieve their potential, as a consequence of child undernutrition.

Child undernutrition costs Swaziland around $92 million per year in lost worker productivity.

NMG

{{British Airways is expanding its presence in East and Southern Africa and has appointed Edward Frost as commercial manager for the region.}}

Frost, who joined British Airways after studying politics at Durham University, has worked in a number of commercial roles over the past five years.

He managed some of the airline’s biggest corporate accounts while based in its New York office.

Returning to the airline’s Waterside headquarters he then served on a variety of commercial project teams responsible for Iberia and British Airways collaboration in Europe, corporate social responsibility and the UK and Ireland regional dealing framework.

In February he started in his new role as the commercial manager for Southern and East Africa, based in Johannesburg.

“With his energy and enthusiasm, Edward will bring new focus and build on our successes in South and East Africa,” says Jamie Cassidy, general manager Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific.

“This is a dynamic time for British Airways in Southern and East Africa and I’m looking forward to engaging with our customers and expanding our brand across the region,” says Frost.

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