The representative list of shares the KASE index consists of only 8 issuers that meet the criteria for the formation of this index.
Despite a small number of companies included in the list, the share of sales transactions conducted on them amounted to 18.2% of the total trading volume in the market for 2017.
The volume of transactions in December 2017, including the KASE index, amounted to 1,036.6 million tenge. A year earlier the volume of transactions amounted to only 97.4 million tenge.
The capitalisation of the index on March 13 amounted to 4 664.5 billion tenge.
The value of the index is at 14.16 points from the 52-week maximum and 463.83 points from the historic maximum, set in July 2007. The value of the KASE index as of March 13, 2018 is 2412.34 points.
Taking into account the significance of the KASE index, it is necessary to closely monitor their financial condition.
The first of the blue chips that reported for the year of 2017 are 2 companies: the Bank of Astana and one of the largest telecommunications giants of the domestic market, Kcell.
Despite the fact that the banking sector finished 2017 in the red zone, with net losses amounting to 18.7 billion tenge, the Bank of Astana earned 15 billion tenge on net interest income in 2017, which is 111.3% more than in 2016, and 1.3 billion tenge on net commission income, which is 18.7% less compared to 2016. At the same time, net profit in 2017 amounted to 1.5 billion tenge, which is 79.1% more than a year ago.
Interest income to expenses ratio increased to 1.8. A year earlier, it was 1.4. The growth of this ratio indicates the effectiveness of the bank's management and the ability to profit from the main activity of the bank.
Due to general reduction of assets in the banking sector by 5.2% per year, the bank's assets also fell by 5.8%, to 340.1 billion tenge. However, the capital for the year increased to 48.6 billion tenge, 53.3%, with a cumulative increase in capital of SLB by 8.7%.
There was no significant change in the structure of assets. The loan portfolio to assets ratio stood at 50%, against 50.3% a year earlier. At the same time, the loan portfolio decreased by 11.8 billion tenge or 6.5%, to 169.9 billion tenge.
The bank's profitability grew along with net profit. The return on assets ratio is 0.46%, an annual growth of 0.22 pp. Return on equity is 3.2%, with an annual growth of 0.47 pp.
Financial stability of the bank also shows positive dynamics. One of the main multipliers of the leverage, the debt ratio, stood at 0.86 in 2017, against 0.91 a year earlier, which indicates a reduction in the debt burden on the bank. Generally, in the banking sector, the value of this multiplier is 0.87.
Another multiplier, assessing the leverage of the bank is debt to equity ratio. The coefficient for the year 2017 was 5.99, while a year earlier it was 10.38. A significant reduction of the coefficient indicates a decrease in the bank's risks related to its capital.
The first audit report on the financial situation for 2017 from the telecommunications sector was published by mobile operator Kcell.
In general, the number of cellular subscribers in December 2017 amounted 26 million units, which is 1 million more than in the same period of the previous year. The increase is 4.2%.
Despite the growth of cellular subscribers, it did not significantly affect Kcell's revenues. Revenues amounted to 147.2 billion tenge in 2017, while a year earlier it was 147 billion tenge. At the same time, net profit declined from 16.7 billion tenge to 13.4 billion tenge, or by 19.8%. The index of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization also slightly decreased from 58 billion tenge in 2016 to 57.3 billion tenge in 2017.
Net profit per share in 2017 was 67.17 tenge, while in 2016 profit per share was 83.42 tenge.
The company annually pays dividends, but because of the declining net profit the amount of dividend payments are also decreasing. In 2017, Kcell decided to pay 86.9% of its net income in the form of dividends; the amount of payment was 11.7 billion tenge, which is 49.8% less than a year earlier.
The dividend yield per share also declined in 2017 from 5.3% to 4.2%.
The company's shares on KASE since October 2017 are in a long range. The correction from the previous local maximum was 15.8%. At the same time, the share price increased during the year by 60.7% from 1,110 tenge to 1,784 tenge.
The net debt of the mobile operator grows from year to year, and amounted to 57.8 billion tenge for 2017. A year earlier, this figure was 56.9 billion tenge. The increase in net debt is 1.6%.
The ratio of net debt to EBIDTA was 1.06 in 2017. In 2016 it was 1.03. This ratio is valuable because it is not subject to such volatility as net profit and is cleared of the impact of depreciation. The increase in the ratio suggests that the company is subject to a greater debt burden, which may lead to problems with debt repayment.
However, the ratio in Kcell is within comfortable limits for the effective operation of the company, which indicates a competent risk management.
Reported by Finprom (Kazakhstan).
