Home grown pan-African micro lender Letshego Holdings Limited buoyed trading activity for Q1 2022 at the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) after recording a significantly high trade of P183 million on 23rd March 2022; catapulting the bourse to a record high turnover in a single day of P186.8 million.
According to the BSE Market Performance Report released last week, trading activity at the BSE increased by 149.9 percent for the first quarter of 2022, compared to the corresponding period in 2021. The significant increase in turnover was as a result of the bourse recording the highest turnover in a single day of P186.8 million.
Said the BSE: “This single day turnover in trading joined a series of two significant trade milestones in recent years including: P1.1 Billion (2021), P149.8 Million (2019), P458.6 Million (2018), P484.6 Million (2017) and P494.3 million (2016).” As at the end of April 2022, a total equity turnover of P444.6 million was recorded from traded volumes of 190.8 million shares; compared to a total equity turnover of P177.9 million from traded volumes of 201.2 million shares during the corresponding period in 2021.
During the period 1 January to 30 April 2022, the Domestic Company Index (DCI) appreciated by 3.4 percent in comparison to a depreciation of 4.5 percent during the same period in 2021. On the other hand, the Domestic Company Total Return Index (DCTRI) appreciated by 5.3 percent in comparison to a decrease of 2.4 percent in the corresponding 2021 period. “The Foreign Company Index (FCI) registered a marginal decrease of 0.1 percent on a year-to-date basis; in comparison to an appreciation of 0.2 percent over the same period in 2021,” read the report.
According to BSE, the top three traded companies during the period under review were Letshego (P259.2 million), Sefalana (P50.2 million) and Chobe (P49.9 million). The total turnover from these three companies accounted for 80.8 percent of total equity turnover, with leading counter Letshego accounting for 58.3 percent of total equity turnover. This is after the pan African micro lender recorded a significantly high trade of P183.0 million on 23rd March 2022, the highest daily trade per counter thus far. In comparison to the same period in 2021, the top three traded companies accounted for 44.9 percent of total equity turnover, with the leading counter Letshego accounting for 25.4 percent (P45.2 million) of total equity turnover.
Of the 31 listed companies, including Serala OTC Board registered BBS, eight depreciated in share price, while 13 appreciated in share price and 10 experienced no share price change. The top gainer over the 1 January to 30 April period was Letshego with an appreciation of 28.6 percent, followed by Botswana Diamonds (BOD) and Stanchart (Standard Chartered Bank) with gains of 16.7 percent and 12.2 percent respectively. BBS experienced the biggest decline of 39.2 percent followed by BTCL and Lucara with 13.3 percent and 12.3 percent respectively.
