KQ pilots lose bid to stop sale of planes

National carrier Kenya Airways (KQ) has won a court battle to sell part of its fleet despite protests from pilots who fear the disposal could render them jobless. High Court judge Monicah Mbaru has lifted an order stopping the airline from disposing of the aircraft, arguing that the sale of the planes has no bearing on the pilots’ employment status. The pilots had asked the court to stop Kenya Airways from offloading the planes until audit firms McKinsey and Seabury [...]

Slump hits Kenya’s private sector on weak shilling

High import costs resulting from a weak shilling slowed private sector activity by the end of September, a survey by CfC Stanbic Bank showed. This signals that the slump in overall economic growth witnessed in the second quarter may have continued into the third quarter. The shilling has weakened by about 14 per cent against the dollar this year, causing imports to be expensive [...]

PE firm Ascent raises Sh8bn for new fund

Private equity firm Ascent Capital has raised slightly more than Sh8 billion ($80 million) for its debut Ascent Rift Valley Fund. Ascent has raised the funds from foreign investors and local pension funds including Kenya Power Pension Fund and Nation Media Group Pension Fund, both of which contributed a combined Sh500 million ($5 million) [...]

Equity and KCB top movers as trading resumes at the bourse

Business at the Nairobi Securities Exchange returned to normalcy Wednesday, with shares worth more than Sh1.7 billion traded.  Trading had been interrupted on Tuesday due to power outage. Equity Bank and KCB were the top movers Wednesday, contributing 63 per cent of the market activity. The banks are expected to declare their third quarter performance before the end of this month [...]

Investors spoilt for options as Family Bank unveils Sh6bn bond

Family Bank will raise up to Sh6 billion through its first bond issue that also gives investors choices in both interest rates and currencies. Family Bank plans to spend the funds on branch expansion, investment in ICT software, increasing its loan book, strengthening its capital base and to fund regional expansion [...]

BAT opens Sh152m warehouse with eye on exports growth

Cigarette maker British American Tobacco (BAT) has opened a Sh152 million warehouse expected to increase its storage capacity for exports. BAT says the store will create additional space to increase storage capacity by 300 million kilogrammes, an equivalent of 280 40-foot containers of semi-processed tobacco [...]

Lufthansa scales down planned Nairobi re-entry

German airline Lufthansa has scaled down its planned re-entry into Kenya later this month, cutting down on the number of flights and size of aircraft to be deployed. The German airline had initially said it would be making the eight-and-a-half hour flight to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on selected days. The airline now says it will operate three weekly flights (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday) until April when it will formally introduce the A340-300s jets as earlier envisioned [...]