BTCL shares record slight recovery

The telecomms group, the trading of whose shares is limited to citizens, plunged to the record low of 65 thebe at the beginning of May, continuing a general downtrend since it listed at P1.15 in 2016.

However, in the past month, BTCL’s share price has risen by 15% to 76 thebe, suggesting that investors are increasingly seeking out the counter.

Despite the recent gains, BTCL remains in the red for the year, with its share price having shed a net of 1.3 percent since January.

That performance places the telecomms group as the best performing loser on the Botswana Stock Exchange, with BBS Ltd still bottom-placed with a loss of nearly 40% in its share price this year.

BTCL directors have said they continue to lobby government, as the majority shareholder, to remove restrictions on the trading of the group’s shares to unlock value for shareholders. Government restricted ownership of BTCL’s shares to Batswana when it partially privatised BTCL in 2016, as a way of retaining value for citizens.