Pegging the value of its issued shares -- both CA (i.e. Class A) and CB (i.e. Class B) -- on the market value of listed securities in which it has invested at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) is a key component of Unashig's long-term investment and value-escalation strategy. It is, indeed, a straightforward and simple idea: Members buy CA and/or CB shares, each currently set at KES 2000/-, and Unashig, akin to a collective investment vehicle, invests the proceeds in a selection of NSE-listed securities as priced by the market. We purchase quoted stocks directly in diverse segments of the economy, instead of engaging in the much longer value-chain which involves procuring physical or proprietary inputs and "producing" (and then inventorying, marketing and delivering) outputs. We may get caught up more directly in that chain of things some day, but we don't have the resources or competitive advantage to make the attempt right now. For us, then -- "and for now" -- the aggregate market-value of the quoted shares becomes, without further machine- or manual-processing, the underlying value and validator of the issued CA and CB shares.
The stream of Unashig investments at the NSE began on December 27th, 2018, as previously and elsewhere reported. It was more recently invigorated by two Rounds of capital-raising, which began on May 1st, 2020 and ended on December 15th, 2020. We expect to have two more rounds in 2021.
The latest CDSC statement, availed below, shows the current range and depth of Unashig's holdings up to "the end of" December 2020. It so happens, however, that purchases made towards the end of a month are routinely too late to "settle" before the month's statement has to be issued. Their inclusion must await the following month's issue. As a rule rather than "habit", indeed, it takes NSE up to six days to validate the transactions of any given trading day. Indeed, under the column heading Date, we find the caveat that Date "Refers to settlement date for sales and purchases".
But online trading platforms enable traders to be "ahead of the game"; that is, to have a clear idea of what investments are firmly in their portfolios at the end of each trading day. Experienced or hands-on traders are armed with their own 'play-by-play' records, which are followed by Broker's email messages. Thus, we are able to confirm, for example, that while Unashig's holdings in Safaricom actually stood at 48,000 shares at the end of the year, the CDSC statement shows a lower and already out-of-date figure of 45,100. Likewise, while Unashig's shares in Carbacid stood at 10,100, the statement gives an incomplete figure of 2,500 shares.
Based on the most recent monthly data, the aggregate market value of Unashig's quoted holdings has continued to grow in a steady fashion. Thus, at the 'end-of-day' on Monday, November 30th, 2020, market valuation stood at KES 4,318,242 (or US$ 39,221.10, based on a US$:KES exchange rate of 1:110.10). A month later -- that is, at the close of trading day on December 31st, 2020 -- it stands at a revised figure of KES 5,560,154.50 (or US$ 50,500.95). That's a 28.8% rise in dollar terms in the span of just one month, if you recall that aggregate value stood at US$ 39,221.10 at the end of November 2020.
We are on track to pass the US$ 100,000 mark in the coming 12 months or so.
Further to the point made earlier, we acknowledge that Unashig is still at a stage when all we can do is buy bits and pieces -- or bits & pieces of bits & pieces -- of companies. We even have difficulty buying more than a couple of hundreds or thousands of shares in high-priced companies such as EABL, Jubilee, Kakuzi, StanChart and WTK. But the time will soon come when we can do more -- and do as much as we wish.
And if we think big enough and straight enough -- and with all the discipline and self-belief that we can muster -- Unashig will, one day soon enough, start buying and owning "whole companies" here and beyond.
To track the daily prices -- more specifically the Volume-Weighted Average Prices (VWAP) -- of shares held by Unashig, or of any other quoted shares of interest to you in particular, GO HERE: NSE Daily PriceList.
UPDATED: January 2; 3; and 10, 2021 at 9:50 PM.
