KENYA AIRWAYS SHARE VALUES SOAR ON RENEWED TRADING BUT MORE STAFF TROUBLES LOOM
(Posted 01st December 2017)
Shares for Kenya Airways re-entered trading yesterday at the Nairobi Stock Exchange after the suspension two weeks ago when the financial restructuring had reached a critical stage.
In mid November, when the trading was halted, did the share value stand at just over 5 Kenya Shillings per share but on reopening the values doubled and reached a post trading value of 11.35 Kenya Shillings, adding a further 10 percent rise to them.
That however is still a far cry from the valuation per share when the airline in 2012 offered a share rights issue at 14 Kenya Shillings a share, an undertaking which at the time was only taken up to the tune of 77 percent, before not long afterwards the slide into financial oblivion started when massive losses rained down on Kenya’s national airline.
The financial gains at the Nairobi Stock Exchange though were overshadowed by a wildcat strike of engineering staff, leading to the summary dismissal yesterday of some 160 aircraft technicians.
The affected staff announced they will take their grievances to court as early as this Friday and sue the airline for wrongful dismissal. Given the recent success of former Kenya Airways Finance Director Alex Mbugua in his suit against the airline there is no telling how this saga will play out, besides having lost a significant number of engineering staff in one fell swoop.
Aviation pundits are already speculating how this might affect scheduled and unscheduled maintenance work needed to keep the fleet in the air and all eyes will now be on both the stock exchange as well as on the airline’s on time performance in coming days and weeks.
