Namibian Stock Exchange grows

THE Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) performed very well last year.

In fact, according to John Mandy, Chief Executive Officer of the NSX, 2006 was, “super – phenomenal, absolutely fantastic!” Mandy has reason to be pleased, especially since the figures speak for themselves. In 2006 the NSX traded a total value of N$6 714 307 000 compared to the previous year’s total of N$3 367 040 000 and the N$2 847 276 000 traded in 2004.This represents an increase of 73,2 per cent from 2005 on top of the 9,4 per cent growth realised in 2005.This considerable increase was largely due to the influences of certain sectors of the market, such as resources, which did exceptionally well according to Mandy.Other sectors which outperformed early expectations were the financial and retail sectors.Dual-listed companies fared better than their local counterparts, increasing in value traded to N$5 730 755 000 from N$2 801 887 000 traded in 2005.But the locally listed companies did not do badly either, with value traded in this regard increasing to N$121 801 000 from N$34 946 000 in 2005.Trustco Group Holdings is one success story, trading N$13 241 000 worth of its stocks in 2006 and securing the 23rd best performance of the year overall.However, Mandy pointed out that most of the local stocks are bought and held by investors, leading to a shortage of good local stocks available for trading.Some who benefited from the demutualisation of stocks by some insurance companies earlier in the year chose to sell their stocks for quick cash whereas the more experienced traders would have kept those stocks.Old Mutual, for example, achieved the sixth best ranking as far as the performance of its stocks in 2006 is concerned, with 65 deals leading to an increase of the value of their stocks on trade to N$390 835 000 from N$144 708 000 the year before.The top performing stocks for 2006 were those of Anglo-American followed by Standard Bank, FirstRand, Barloworld and Edgars.Truworths, Sanlam, Investec and Ellerines took the other top ten spots, with Ellerines finishing in tenth place.Truworths in particular came on strong late in the year to increase its traded value from only N$48 575 000 in 2005 to register N$296 662 000 at the close of last year.However, despite all the success, the shortage of locally listed company stocks to trade is being aggravated with the advent of private equity funds and due to the fact that local stocks serve as local assets in terms of regulation 28 of the Pension Funds Act.The act requires a certain percentage of the fund value to be invested within Namibia.Contributing further was the long list of companies that de-listed during the course of last year, including Avis Holdings, Metje & Ziegler and Pep Namibia Holdings.One development of interest in 2006 was the listing of bonds on the NSX with Standard Bank leading the way and raising N$416 million through the listing of their corporate bonds.The Road Fund Administration, Nampower and other local banks are expected to follow suit in their own fashion this year.Mandy was not eager to make predictions for 2007 but said: “We hope that there is more of the same.””Who would have thought a year ago that the NSX would achieve such results in 2006,” he added.However the NSX has decided to hedge its bets by taking steps to ensure the future availability of qualified people to run the local economy.Mandy explained that because chartered accountants are dearly needed in the country, the NSX has committed to support a Namibian Graduate School of Accounting (NGSA) being set up at the Polytechnic of Namibia.The NSX support is to the tune of N$1 million.The money has gone towards renovations of the building to be used and the acquisition of equipment and materials needed to get it running.The NGSA also enjoys the full support of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Namibia and will use the distance-learning CTA and bridging year programmes of the University of Kwazulu-Natal in South Africa.In 2006 the NSX traded a total value of N$6 714 307 000 compared to the previous year’s total of N$3 367 040 000 and the N$2 847 276 000 traded in 2004.This represents an increase of 73,2 per cent from 2005 on top of the 9,4 per cent growth realised in 2005.This considerable increase was largely due to the influences of certain sectors of the market, such as resources, which did exceptionally well according to Mandy.Other sectors which outperformed early expectations were the financial and retail sectors.Dual-listed companies fared better than their local counterparts, increasing in value traded to N$5 730 755 000 from N$2 801 887 000 traded in 2005.But the locally listed companies did not do badly either, with value traded in this regard increasing to N$121 801 000 from N$34 946 000 in 2005.Trustco Group Holdings is one success story, trading N$13 241 000 worth of its stocks in 2006 and securing the 23rd best performance of the year overall.However, Mandy pointed out that most of the local stocks are bought and held by investors, leading to a shortage of good local stocks available for trading.Some who benefited from the demutualisation of stocks by some insurance companies earlier in the year chose to sell their stocks for quick cash whereas the more experienced traders would have kept those stocks.Old Mutual, for example, achieved the sixth best ranking as far as the performance of its stocks in 2006 is concerned, with 65 deals leading to an increase of the value of their stocks on trade to N$390 835 000 from N$144 708 000 the year before.The top performing stocks for 2006 were those of Anglo-American followed by Standard Bank, FirstRand, Barloworld and Edgars.Truworths, Sanlam, Investec and Ellerines took the other top ten spots, with Ellerines finishing in tenth place.Truworths in particular came on strong late in the year to increase its traded value from only N$48 575 000 in 2005 to register N$296 662 000 at the close of last year.However, despite all the success, the shortage of locally listed company stocks to trade is being aggravated with the advent of private equity funds and due to the fact that local stocks serve as local assets in terms of regulation 28 of the Pension Funds Act.The act requires a certain percentage of the fund value to be invested within Namibia.Contributing further was the long list of companies that de-listed during the course of last year, including Avis Holdings, Metje & Ziegler and Pep Namibia Holdings.One development of interest in 2006 was the listing of bonds on the NSX with Standard Bank leading the way and raising N$416 million through the listing of their corporate bonds.The Road Fund Administration, Nampower and other local banks are expected to follow suit in their own fashion this year.Mandy was not eager to make predictions for 2007 but said: “We hope that there is more of the same.””Who would have thought a year ago that the NSX would achieve such results in 2006,” he added.However the NSX has decided to hedge its bets by taking steps to ensure the future availability of qualified people to run the local economy.Mandy explained that because chartered accountants are dearly needed in the country, the NSX has committed to support a Namibian Graduate School of Accounting (NGSA) being set up at the Polytechnic of Namibia.The NSX support is to the tune of N$1 million.The money has gone towards renovations of the building to be used and the acquisition of equipment and materials needed to get it running.The NGSA also enjoys the full support of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Namibia and will use the distance-learning CTA and bridging year programmes of the University of Kwazulu-Natal in South Africa.