Good afternoon, let’s get into it!
The domestic market has been navigating a complex macroeconomic backdrop. While lower diamond receipts squeezed government spending and weighed heavily on broader consumer demand, sector-specific drivers—such as structural turnarounds, infrastructure demand, and defensive banking dynamics—created massive divergence between the top gainers and lagging counters.
Here is how the field shapes up:
The Leaderboard: 1Y Returns Ranked Highest to Lowest
Ticker | Company Name | Last Price | 1Y Return |
|---|---|---|---|
CHOP-EQO | Choppies Enterprises | P1.50 | +172.7% |
BTCL-EQO | Botswana Telecommunications Corp. | P1.46 | +37.7% |
PTPH-EQO | Primetime Property Holdings | P1.90 | +18.0% |
SECH-EQO | Sechaba Brewery Holdings | P39.00 | +12.1% |
FNBB-EQO | First National Bank of Botswana | P5.70 | +9.4% |
RDCP-EQO | RDC Properties | P2.57 | +7.1% |
ABBL-EQO | Absa Bank Botswana | P7.65 | +7.0% |
CAS-EQO | CA Sales Holdings | P14.15 | +6.8% |
SEF-EQO | Sefalana Holding | P16.00 | +6.7% |
CHOB-EQO | Chobe Holdings | P18.65 | +6.3% |
OCCL-EQO | Olympia Capital | P0.28 | +3.7% |
BIHL-EQO | Botswana Insurance Holdings | P23.75 | +3.2% |
BBS-EQO | BBS Bank | P0.70 | +1.4% |
SCBB-EQO | Standard Chartered Bank Botswana | P8.76 | +1.2% |
NAP-EQU | New African Properties | P4.00 | +0.7% |
ENG-EQO | Engen Botswana | P14.25 | 0.0% |
ACC-EQO | Access Bank Botswana | P2.04 | 0.0% |
SEED-EQO | Seed Co International | P3.50 | 0.0% |
FPC-EQU | Far Property Company | P1.80 | 0.0% |
LLR-EQU | Letlole La Rona | P3.05 | 0.0% |
SHUM-EQO | Shumba Energy | P0.90 | 0.0% |
MIN-EQO | Minergy | P0.40 | 0.0% |
CRE-EQO | Cresta Marakanelo | P1.17 | -8.6% |
TURN-EQU | Turnstar Holdings | P2.06 | -8.8% |
G4S-EQO | G4S Botswana | P0.91 | -9.0% |
LETS-EQO | Letshego Africa Holdings | P0.85 | -19.0% |
Key Drivers Behind the Market Moves
1. The High Flyers: Retail Restructuring and Telecom Resilience
Choppies Enterprises (CHOP-EQO) | +172.7%: Choppies captures the top spot on the yearly return chart. This massive surge reflects a dramatic, low-base recovery from prior years, bolstered by robust free cash flow and aggressive regional liquidity improvements. However, as noted in the broader market tracking data in image.png, institutional share dumping and tightening local consumer spending have started freezing short-term momentum, keeping recent weekly fluctuations completely flat.
Botswana Telecommunications Corp. (BTCL-EQO) | +37.7%: Securing second place, BTCL’s impressive year comes down to solid defensive characteristics and strong dividend dynamics. Telecom data consumption remains sticky regardless of broader economic strains, accelerating its earnings recovery profile and driving multi-year highs in shareholder returns.
Primetime Property Holdings (PTPH-EQO) | +18.0%: Leading the gaining property counters, Primetime benefited from stabilizing contractual rental streams and portfolio realignments, defying the broader domestic commercial softness.
2. Stable Ground: Breweries and Commercial Banking
Sechaba Brewery Holdings (SECH-EQO) | +12.1%: Sechaba continues to be a favorite cash-cow counter on the bourse. Its strong pricing power has protected it against local inflationary pressures.
The Banking Sector (FNBB +9.4%, ABBL +7.0%, SCBB +1.2%): Bank stocks remained heavily favored, propped up by high local interest rates after the Bank of Botswana strategically adjusted the Monetary Policy Rate upward. This environment supported healthy net interest margins despite lower diamond-driven liquidity across the economy.
3. Flatlining Counters: Inactivity & Strategic Pauses
A significant block of companies (Engen, Access Bank, Seed Co, Far Property, Letlole La Rona, Shumba Energy, and Minergy) registered a 0% yearly return. This stagnation highlights ongoing structural issues regarding market depth and liquidity on the local bourse, with many smaller or commodity-linked domestic counters experiencing prolonged periods without active trading volume.
4. The Laggards: Hospitality, Real Estate, and Microfinance Strains
Cresta Marakanelo (-8.6%) & Turnstar Holdings (-8.8%): Both hospitality and select retail real estate segments felt the squeeze of reduced consumer discretionary spend, fueled by government austerity measures and a weaker Pula.
G4S Botswana (G4S-EQO) | -9.0%: Rising operational overheads and intense competition in the security sector weighed heavily on G4S, pushing its annual performance into negative territory.
Letshego Africa Holdings (LETS-EQO) | -19.0%: Anchoring the bottom of the list, the microfinance giant suffered a sharp decline. Its performance was impacted by steep macroeconomic pressures, currency volatility across its diverse African jurisdictions, and significant losses linked to discontinued East and West African portfolio restructuring operations.
source: simplywallst
