Newsagency Reuters reported (on 19 October) that financial services group Imara (http://www.imaraholdings.com) announced it had added Egypt and Morocco to its regional stock-broking footprint. The group started in southern Africa and this is its first expansion across the Sahara desert. Apparently next stop is Tunisia.
Reuters quoted Alun Thomas, chief executive of Imara Africa Securities, the group’s Botswana-registered brokerage arm, saying: “Expansion of our trading capability has primarily been driven by client demand for a wider trading capability.”
Imara is one of the key stockbrokers offering a wide trading network in Africa’s frontier markets. It offers brokerage services in 14 African markets: Botswana, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe and the regional West African BRVM bourse out of Ivory Coast.
Imara has also recently stepped up its research offerings. The company said there was a strong response to its banking and financial services book, covering African banks from Egypt to South Africa. Its recent offering was a review of the sugar industry in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa and its next publication will review listed brewing companies across the African markets.
Imara Group CEO Mark Tunmer commented in a press release: “We’ve always been known for the quality of our research – a direct result of our strong on-the-ground presence across Africa. As part of our service to investors we circulate reports from Imara asset managers working on various Africa-focused equity funds.
“We decided to give more formal structure to this research effort by compiling authoritative reports on national markets and key sectors. The success of our banking book was an eye-opener. We decided to maintain momentum by creating a continuing stream of authoritative reports. We knew there was great international appetite for reliable, up-to-the-minute data on African countries. That appetite may be even stronger than we first thought.
“We plan to publish an ongoing series of investment books and reports on a wide range of national markets, key sectors and listed companies.”