CEC management commended by analysts

CEC has been commended by analysts for its proactive shareholder engagement and strategically placing its investors at the core of its operations as demonstrated by regular interaction with people that have an interest in the organisation.

Below is an article by Zambia Daily Mail’s Martin Musunka following the Investor’s Open Day conducted recently by CEC management in Kitwe.

CEC unveils projects to shareholders through interactive initiative

Copperbelt Energy Corporation Managing Director for Operations Mr Owen Silavwe addressing shareholders at the company’s Open Day in Kitwe recently

THE Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC) management has proactively engaged shareholders in an interactive programme as a means of maintaining fruitful rapport with investors.

CEC has unveiled its plans to shareholders and prospective partners and has made its stakeholders privy to its enchanting mega-projects.

Shareholders who attended a recent open day exhibition learned that feasibility studies are at an advanced stage in Luapula Province for the 700-megawatt Luapula hydro-electricity scheme, which is a cascade of the five run-of-river hydro-power scheme.

This is in addition to another project: the US$214 million CEC’s flagship 40-megawatt Kabompo Gorge hydro-electricity venture in North-Western Province, whose full scope of construction is expected to take off by the end of the current quarter.

The CEC board of directors assented to other schemes which include a solar project which will entail the development of 12 megawatts of solar power in rural areas, construction of a five megawatts to 15 megawatts grid connected solar PV plant on the Copperbelt or/and Kabompo Gorge, biomass and biofuels, including the establishment of a one megawatt bio-gastification plant at a cost of US$3.8 million in Kitwe.

Shareholders have savoured the success story of CEC’s diversification into the telecommunication sector which brought about Realtime and CEC Liquid, which are the subsidiary companies. CEC Liquid rolls out fibre to clients on a wholesale scale while Realtime operates as an internet service provider.

On the international energy market, CEC has developed new business projects under CEC Africa in Nigeria, Namibia and Sierra Leone with diverse investment levels.

Interaction
CEC has strategically placed its investors at the core of its operations as demonstrated by regular interaction with people that have an interest in the organisation.
The acknowledgement by seasoned stockbroker Charles Mate that CEC is one listed company that has consistently intermingled with shareholders through an open day, goes to show how the company follows fundamental principles of good governance.

Mr Mate, who is Stockbrokers Zambia Limited managing director, in an interview after the CEC open day in Kitwe recently, was constructive about the deliberate attempt by the company to inform and educate shareholders on matters that hinge on their investments.

He described CEC management as an extremely proactive team, saying it is important that listed companies engage their shareholders in the manner CEC does for them to make informed investment decisions.

“This is a positive issue and it is a deliberate attempt to inform and educate shareholders for them to make informed investment decisions. CEC is the first company listed on the Lusaka Stock Exchange (LuSE) that holds an investor open day to discuss the rights offer,” Mr Mate explained.

The depiction of CEC management, by Mr Mate, as an extremely proactive team that values positive investor relations with regular engagement of shareholders is apt.
The open day in Kitwe was rich in content with topics packaged round rights offer, diversification, the company’s investment portfolio and practices and prudency, among others.

Listed
CEC, which has been listed on LuSE since January 2008, is an independent power transmission and distribution company with core operations in Zambia and an expanding footprint in the rest of Africa.

The company operates and maintains power transmission, distribution and generation assets. It owns and operates about 900 kilometres of 220KV and 66KV transmission lines, 520 kilometres of optic fibre on power lines, and 250 kilometres in trenches, 40 major substations and 80 megawatts of gas turbine generation.

As a key supplier to the Copperbelt Province through long-term power supply agreements with mining companies, CEC accounts for approximately 50 percent of Zambia’s electricity consumption.

During the company’s open day at Edinburgh Hotel in Kitwe, CEC managing director for operations Owen Silavwe unveiled a robust investment plan, saying the company is poised to derive fruitful benefits from the various expansion activities.

In outlining some of the projects the company has embarked on and are at various stages of development, Mr Silavwe said while the company is determined to sustain its own investments, it is equally resolute to support other entities that are willing to invest.

Mr Silavwe explained that as CEC is exploiting various investment opportunities through the many expansion programmes, the success is meant to benefit the company and its shareholders.

Patner
As part of its growth strategy, CEC seeks to be a strategic partner in private power projects or public-private partnership power projects within the region. The company is focused on opportunities that create value for the going concern and its investors.

Mr Silavwe told CEC shareholders that there are certain values the company cherishes in carrying out the mandate, among them, having skilled manpower in order to meet own operational needs, provide support and supervise own jobs and that it is imperative that essential skills are maintained at all times.

All in all, CEC seeks to continue its positive growth trajectory through focused investments in a range of power generation opportunities in Zambia and the rest of Africa.
Mr Silavwe said the company is well-placed to benefit from the growth in the Zambian mining sector with the commissioning of new mines.

During the presentation of the rights offer, Prisca Chizi, a trader at the Zambia Stockbrokers Limited, tabulated pertinent issues regarding the subject and dissected major clauses concerning the objective.

Other officials who made presentations included those from Corpserve, agents who spoke about the role of transfer agents, Stanbic Bank manager for corporate and investment banking Mwila Mwenya and CEC director for corporate finance Mutale Mukuka.