Topicals



We research widely to deliver unique insights.


Recent Topicals

FY’2021/22 Budget Estimates Note

May 9, 2021

On 29th April 2021, the National Treasury presented its Budget Estimates for the next fiscal year, FY’2021/22.  It is important to note that this is the biggest budget the country has had, a 5.6% increase to Kshs 3.1 tn in FY2021/22, from last year’s Kshs 2.9 tn. Considering the effects of the pandemic, the government has taken a cautious approach in terms of revenue projections. Furthermore, the allocation of resources has been aligned to priority programs under the Big Four Agenda, the Third Medium Term Plan (2018-2022) of the Vision 2030 blueprint, and various initiatives under the Post Covid-19 Economic Recovery Strategy. This is to ensure spending is directed towards the most criti...

Unit Trust Funds Performance- FY’2020

May 9, 2021

Unit Trust Funds (UTFs) are collective investment schemes that pool funds from different investors and are managed by professional fund managers. The fund managers invest the pooled funds in a portfolio of securities with the aim of generating returns in line with the specific objectives of the fund. Following the release of the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) Quarterly Statistical Bulletin – Q1’2021, we examine the performance of Unit Trust Funds in Kenya with a key focus on the Money Market Fund as it has the largest market share of 89.6% as at December 2020. We shall analyze the following: Performance of the Unit Trust Funds Industry, Performance of M...

CMMF Fact Sheet April-2020

May 3, 2021

FUND PERFORMANCE * Percentage you can expect to earn with the fund during one year of investment on basis of the so far realized monthly returns since inception. FUND MANAGERS REPORT AND OUTLOOK Fund Objective The Cytonn Money Market Fund is a low-risk fund that seeks to obtain a high level of current income while protecting investor’s capital and liquidity. Portfolio Strategy The Cytonn Money Market Fund successfully delivered above-market returns in April 2021, averaging 10.5% p.a. The Fund outperformed the industry average and its benchmark of 91-day T-Bill+1% points at 8.1%. Portfolio Performance T...

Nairobi Metropolitan Area Commercial Office Report 2021

Apr 25, 2021

In 2020, we released the Nairobi Metropolitan Area Commercial Office Report 2020, which highlighted the state of the commercial office market in terms of supply, demand, performance, and investment opportunities within the sector and the overall performance of the sector in 2019. According to the report, the commercial office sector performance softened in 2019 recording a decline of 0.6% in average rental yields to 7.7% in 2019 from 8.3% in 2018. Occupancy rates declined by 3.3% to 80.5% in 2019, from 83.8%, in 2018. Asking rents declined by 4.3% to an average of Kshs 97 per SQFT from Kshs 101 per SQFT in 2018.  The main reasons that led to the declines in performance in 2019 were; i)an introduction of 1.5 mn SQFT office space to the market resulting to an oversupply of 6.3 mn SQFT which has created a bargaining chip for potential tenants...

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) Eurobonds: Q1’2021 Performance

Apr 21, 2021

Background According to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Regional Economic Outlook Update April 2021, the Sub-Saharan region economy is projected to have contracted at a rate of (1.9%) in 2020, but is expected to rebound in 2021 by registering a 3.4% growth, which is 2.6% points below the global projected growth of 6.0%. IMF anticipates the region to continue feeling the effects of the recent second wave of the pandemic, which seems to be stronger than the first one. The IMF further expects regional recovery to tag along pandemic-related risks such as; access to extrenal financing by governemnts and other persistant factors like political instability and domestic security. However, the effectiveness of vaccine distribution and inculation will boost the regional near term growth prospects.