@horton If a company is a monopoly and posts a drop in profits is a SELL..what would they do in face of a Bharti like onslaught?

Their MOAT is very weak if i had cash i would probably venture into this biz and give this guys a run for their money...anyways here is why i'm less bullish on Carbacid.

1. High electricity costs-look at your bill this month and put Carbacid in your perspective.

2. Super inflation- this will affect their non alcoholic segment

Well BOC and the other company..in Nyanza (spectra international I believe could be wrong about the name though) had (have) the money....they tried and failed miserably!!
Pray tell...how is Carb's "moat weak"?? They have the most accessible source of CO2 in the region...even the mighty Linden group with all their resources know this quite well and they have burnt their fingers before in the CO2 match up.....there is also:
-- LT contracts with soft drink manufacturers
--Very High Net margins in the range of 40-50% show me another company on the NSE that can do over 40% in NM consistently??
--KO, PG have very strong businesses in their own rights as you know even they have a one off drop n profits...doesnt mean their business is "weak" its a mere speed bump carb is no exception....Carbs profits dropping by a mere 13% for the first time in 6-8 halves...does not constitute "fundamental weakness" I had spoken to the directors during at an AGM about a possible onslaught by the Linden group on Carb's CO2 turf but the director confidently told me that they should bring it on as Carb has been doing this business for over a very long time and have got really good at it...something BOC are wary of...
--Zero leverage
--Unlike BOC, Carbs business is still strong as there i no chinese made CO2 machines as is the case with BOCs core O2 business .

There will never be an onslaught similar to bharti in this sector as it is :
A- Not a Tech
B- Quite specialized kinda like mining coz u gotta look for CO2 rich spots/fields to buy and the extract and these are far and few between...
C- Market is not big enough for several players especially because of limited clientele and Reason B above

Your reasons.... High electricity costs and Super inflation pretty much affects all industries in Kenya not just Carb.

@Horton you are WRONG on this one. I confirm to you that centum is exempted from paying tax on their investment income.

The ONLY income they pay tax on is parking fees from their idle plot on uhuru highway and interest from bank deposits, which are paltry. If you look at the financial you will see. In fact the company has huge tax assets (refunds due from KRA).

For this reason centum has been the biggest creator of wealth on the nse in the longterm!

WAZUANS, if u can remember that BOC tried to take over Carbacid, but failed coz they could not manage to convince 80% of the shareholders (they could only manage 71% of the shareholders). This was followed by the infamous CMA suspension.

later the alliance nominees (read: SKN Matiba) sold their stake (22%) to centum. Its a known fact that the Matibas were the ones opposed to the take-over.

Now that the BOC can manage to convince the required 80%, i, strongly believe that the Linde ground (BOC owners) or any other interested entinty, might try a take-over (this firm is a monopoly, who hates monoploies?!), which, to me, MUST push the share price to above 150 (if and only if it happens before Dec. 2011). I recommend this shares to anyone with cash, like me, now!

Centum's unrealised gains can not be taxed...but with no CGT in Kenya their sale of Carbacid was not taxed.