AVESTA Overview: February 19 - March 1
Biweekly overview on Uzbekistan securities markets by Avesta Investment Group & Europe-Uzbekistan Association for Economic Cooperation
TASHKENT STOCK EXCHANGE
During the given period, trading on the Tashkent Stock Exchange reached 14.4bln UZS, which is nearly five times lower compared to the previous two weeks. This significant difference in volumes can be attributed to M&A transactions that occurred in both periods.
Last period transactions with DORI likely took place as part of the ongoing privatization process. A 34.9% equity stake in the company was sold for 60.24bln UZS at 8,600 UZS per share – this package was previously represented as treasury shares, so as we didn’t see any privatization announcements, we could suggest that UzSAMA took it back as a state-share. Mr. Anvar Irchaev, the Chairman of the Board of Universal Bank JSCB (UNVB), acquired UNVB shares at 8,000 UZS per share for 2.5bln UZS, increasing his equity stake from 4.99% to 5.11% Combined, these transactions accounted for 92.8% of the total turnover previous period.
Additionally, three similar deals took place during this period involving METQ shares, which were sold for 5.03bln UZS at 7,121 UZS per share, TBMZ shares sold for 3bln UZS at 5,200 UZS per share, and BNGA shares sold for 2.74bln UZS at 11,110 UZS per share. These three transactions accounted for 74.6% of the total turnover.
Excluding the impact of the aforementioned transactions, the trading volume actually decreased by 22.6%. The total number of traded securities decreased by five, resulting in a total of 87 securities traded. METQ, TBMZ, and BNGA accounted for 34.8%, 20.8%, and 19% of the total turnover, respectively. BFMT3V2 bond transactions also remained in the top 5 for several weeks, contributing 7.3% this time.
URTS closing price increased by 10.3% due to the expected dividend payment distribution of 2,600 UZS per share, which represents a yield of 15.2%. The decision regarding the dividend payment will soon be made in the AGM. Conversely, the EQQU price decreased by 36.9%. Closing prices for the remaining securities changed only slightly or didn’t change at all (in the case of M&A deals).
AVEX increased by 2.2% during these two weeks.
AVESTA EQUITY INDEX
*The AVEX index describes the general market trend by covering the top 20 listed companies, in a particular quarter, with the highest liquidity and transaction turnovers on the Tashkent Stock Exchange. The index is a sum of the daily stock prices multiplied by the weighted average coefficients given to selected companies. The base date is 01/01/2021 (1000).
FINANCIAL NEWS
ECONOMICS
TBC Bank Uzbekistan's net income reached $5.4mln in 2023. The loan portfolio of the bank more than doubled ($301.7mln) and deposits volume equaled $219mln (+76%);
MobiUz cellular operator's number of customers exceeded 7.7mln in 2023;
UzTransGaz JSC (UTGA) to attract $470mln for modernization of main gas pipelines to increase natural gas imports from Russia;
87.1k car license plates for 396.1bln (+30.2%) UZS were auctioned on UzRTSB JSC (URTS) in 2023;
More than 90% of tourists who visited Uzbekistan in 2023 were from CIS countries;
In January, there was a decline in the production of gas (-9.4%) down to 3.99bcm, coal (-13.8%) down to 357.8k tons, and oil (-6.3%) to 60.5k tons;
Electricity imports from Uzbekistan to Afghanistan decreased by half;
Car sales in January increased by 6% y-o-y. EV car sales decreased by 7.8% compared to the previous month;
Azerbaijani Pasha Holding to build a five-star Ritz-Carlton hotel in Tashkent;
NAPP registered Bank of Georgia JSC, one of the largest banks in Georgia, as the first participant in the recently introduced "Regulatory Sandbox" of the capital market of Uzbekistan;
Cement production increased by 2.3 times (627.9k tons) in January 2024;
Total volume of transactions in Click exceeded 60trln UZS (+45%) in 2023;
Banking NPL in January reached 4.3%, including 4.7% for state-owned banks and 3.3% for private;
Afghanistan - Uzbekistan 75km line reconstruction started, estimated costs are $6.3mln;
Six solar power plants with a total capacity of 2,700 MW to be launched in 2024;
Uzbekistan and Russia to build a gas chemical complex in the Bukhara region;
Japan to provide Uzbekistan a $246.2mln loan to continue economic reforms and support socially vulnerable groups;
Foreign trade turnover decreased by 17.2% and reached $4.2bln including a 47.1% decrease in exports down to $1.1bln and imports increased by 4.1% up to $3.1bln in January 2024;
Number of real estate transactions increased by 19.9% in January;
OVERVIEWGarantbank JSCB established GarantInvest LLC;
UzRTSB JSC (URTS) announced the AGM date on March 19th. The supervisory board of the company recommended to distribute 2,600 UZS per share dividends, which is turning into approx. 15% yield;
Andijankabel JSC attracted the loan from KDB Uzbekistan JSCB for an unknown sum - the announcement indicates 3mln UZS or 21.98 times charter capital while calculating from the latest report for 9M2023, the charter fund is about 1.1bln UZS< so the loan should be approx. 25bln UZS;
Kapital Sugurtha JSC sold shares of Anorbank JSCB worth 30bln UZS to Mr.Olimov Kaxramonjon Anvarovich, who is the shareholder of both companies. Mr.Olimov increased his share in the bank from 91.26 to up to 98.78%;
TBC Bank Uzbekistan JSCB attracted $16mln subordinated loan from TBC Bank Group PLC;
Gross Insurance JSC approved the decision to issue additional shares worth 12bln UZS placed among Mr.Axmedjanov Farrux Baxramovich (11.4bln UZS) and Mr.Nazarov Otabek Xasan o'g'li (0.6bln UZS);
Hayot Bank JSCB approved the decision to increase the charter capital up to 350bln UZS.
