Safaricom share hits all-time high of Sh30

Mobile service provider Safaricom’s share price touched a record high of Sh30 in yesterday’s trading.

The firm, which has the biggest market capitalisation on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), has enjoyed a price rally since the beginning of the year, making its shareholders some of the biggest beneficiaries of the continued recovery of the bourse.

Yesterday, Safaricom was the day’s biggest mover with 6.5 million shares valued at Sh193 million changing hands at between Sh29.50 and Sh29.75. This represented 28.89 per cent of the day’s traded value.

The telco’s total value has in the wake of the price rally grown to cross the Sh1.2 trillion mark.

Show of confidence

This has made it more valuable than the top 10 banks combined. At Sh30, the telco’s share price hit its highest mark since its listing in 2008.

It controls over a third of the daily traded value on average on the bourse, with its performance having a direct impact on the overall performance of the market.

A price rally in a company usually represents the confidence that investors have in it. Share prices also go up when a company is preparing to pay dividends.  The firm’s share price is also a beneficiary of increased foreign investor activity in the country after the cloud of political uncertainty that characterised much of last year.

The firm was one of the few listed firms to record a growth in earnings last year, defying the political environment.