GSE All-Share continues to pick up
Accra (Greater Accra) 28 March 2002 - Ghana Airways, bugged down by 150 million dollars debt, is fast losing its hold as the most preferred airline not only on the West Coast, but to destinations previously known as peculiar to the national carrier. This is attributed to the unpredictable schedules of the airline that had most often been delayed or cancelled altogether, leaving passengers in the cold.
A GNA report quotes officials of the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) as saying on Wednesday that it had received several applications from numerous airlines to increase the frequency of their flights to and from the Kotoka International Airport. The airlines include South Africa Airways, British Airways, Kenya Airways and Lufthansa. They either want to operate daily flights or increase their schedules.
Ghana Airways was known as the most reliable on the West Coast but debts, management problems and equipment have bedevilled the airline making it almost impossible for it to run some of its usual routes the way it used to.
A source at the Ghana Airways said in interview that Ghanair, the dominant carrier in West Africa with schedules to nearly all the national capitals had had to reduce or cancel some of its routes. Ghana Airways has cancelled its three times daily flight to Abidjan and daily flights to Dakar, Senegal making room for Ethiopia airlines to operate to those destinations.
It, however, goes to Liberia and Sierra Leone daily. "But even then, sometimes they do not fly," an agent who requested anonymity, said. Ghanair's code-sharing arrangement with Ethiopian Airlines has been suspended due to what one official called "financial reasons".
The national carrier, however, still flies to Lagos twice a day, one in the morning and another in the evening. The Johannesburg route is hanging in the balance, as the flights there are not regular.
The London route has been reduced from four times a week to once a week. The New York, Baltimore, Washington, Rome and Dusseldorf routes have also been reduced to once a week.
One of the travel and tour companies interviewed said the New York route "is not even guaranteed since anytime you access the Ghana Airways booking system on the computer, you are told:' the link to your host is not allowed', even though, there might be a flight."
South African Airlines (SAA), that used to centre its operations in the Southern African Region has ventured into the West African sub-region and is fast making a significant impact with its timely schedules and strategic routing system. The same can be said for Kenya Airways, the newest airline on the block.
Ghana Airways was recently suspended from the clearinghouse of the International Airline Transport Association (IATA) and officials and Aviation authorities say this was having serious consequences for the airline. The suspension has affected its relationship with other airlines and brought into question its credit worthiness.
Ghanair, which has lost about two-fifth of its passengers on its North American route due to the September 11 attacks on the US, has debts of 90 million dollars in overdue suppliers credit and 60 million dollars in loans.
The situation is made precarious by creditors' increasing demand for payment of overdue supplies. Ghanair is the only airline in West Africa that has international accreditation (AAA rating). The liquidated Air Afrique also had it.
It must be noted that most airlines worldwide have been hit heavily by the September 11 events and have received significant doses of capital from their governments to keep them afloat. The US government recently doled out five billion dollars to support its airline industry while countries in the European Union have also taken steps to support their aviation industry.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 28 March 2002 - The Board of the SSB Bank Limited has recommended the payment of 120 cedis being "Special Anniversary Dividend" to shareholders as a demonstration of their support and loyalty over the years. This brings the total dividend paid for 2001 to 600 cedis having already paid an interim dividend of 150 cedis plus an extra dividend of 330 cedis per share based on half-year results.
Mr Francis E. Y. Attipoe, Chairman of SSB Bank, announced this at the 22nd annual general meeting of the bank in Accra on Wednesday. SSB Bank is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.
He said the total figure represents an increase of 50 per cent over last years' 400 cedis. He said the bank was able to rake in total deposits of 765.4billion cedis compared to the 702.4 million posted in 2000. SSB Bank also made a profit after tax of 91.4 billion cedis in the year under review compared to 77.2 billion in 2000.
Profit before tax was 158.08 billion cedis compared to 125.1 billion cedis for the previous year. This represents a 26.3 per cent hike with shareholders' funds also increasing from 168.6 billion to 219.9 billion cedis. Total income by the Bank was 283,485 million cedis. In 2000, it was 234,515 million cedis.
On the outlook for this year, Mr Attipoe said the Bank expects government to maintain the macro-economic stability while working to ensure that "HIPC lessens the pressure on the country's debt service obligations." He said inflation is expected to go down further and likewise "interest rates would be significantly lower than they have been in 2001."
He said the Bank has increased its investments in information technology (IT), - 33 per cent of total investments - adding that it had a fully functioning Wide Area network that would improve customer service and drive the banks growth.
Mr Pryce Kojo Thompson, Managing Director, said the Bank had installed a new versatile banking operations software - flexcube. "As at now, nearly all the Bank's branches have been fully networked and we are now able to more easily offer added services to our numerous customers in an efficient and timely manner."
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Accra (Greater Accra) 28 March 2002 - The GSE All-Share Index inched up on Friday gaining 0.01 points on the back of a four-cedi gain by Enterprise Insurance Company (EIC).
The index that has moved up consistently for several weeks closed trading at 1,018.02 points. The change for the year remained at 6.49 per cent but total volume of shares that changed hands were up at 53,400 shares from 26,700 shares on Monday. Market capitalisation was slightly higher at 4,004.92 billion cedis from 4,004.90 billion cedis.
The following are the closing prices of the equities in cedis:
ABL 323
AGC 18,800
ALW 4,300
BAT 637
CFAO 60
EIC 3,125 +4
FML 950
GBL 1,000
GCB 1,690
GGL 910
HFC 950
MGL 250
MLC 147
MOGL 18,550
PAF 750
PBC 450
PZ 1,200
SCB 20,500
SPPC 350
SSB 2,704
UNIL 2,901
CMLT 430
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