Mumias share price up on Comesa safeguards extension

Mumias Sugar Company shares at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) rose 6.7 per cent Tuesday following the extension of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) quantitative safeguards that give a lifeline to the industry for the next one year. The share sold at Sh1.60 on average compared to Sh1.50 the previous day, making it one of the top climbers in Thursday’s trading, as news emerged of the continued sugar import restriction [...]

Uchumi opens talks with sub-tenants to settle lease dispute under new terms

Uchumi Supermarkets has agreed to settle a row with its tenants whose contracts it had terminated after takeover by new management. Chief executive Julius Kipng’etich said in a statement Tuesday that shop owners who sub-lease Uchumi’s outlets had agreed to sign new tenancy terms with the retailer. Both parties have been locked in an impasse that found its way to the courts with the tenants claiming unfair termination of their contracts [...]

TV broadcasters set to pay up to 62 per cent less for signals

Television broadcasters will pay lower monthly fees if a UK consultant’s proposed new charges are adopted by the industry regulator. The proposed fee reduction is a big win for media houses which have previously complained about expensive distribution costs charged by the two signal distributors, Pan Africa Network Group (PANG) and KBC-owned Signet [...]

KWFT eyes Rwanda, Sudan Sudan expansion

Kenya Women Microfinance Bank is targeting Rwanda and South Sudan markets as it seeks to be the first local microfinancier to branch out in the region. The microfinancier, which is the largest such operator in Kenya, said it will be targeting small and medium enterprises for lending in the two regional economies over the next two years. The microfinancier has been focusing most of its lending on women mostly in the rural areas[...]

Banks want Equity, Family and 3 others dropped from class suit

The Kenya Bankers Association says Equity, Family, UBA, Gulf African Banks and HF were not registered lenders in July 2003 when Rose Florence Wanjiru filed a suit on behalf of bank customers seeking compensation for illegal charges levied on their accounts. KBA adds that HF is not a commercial bank but a mortgage finance company, hence should not be enjoined in the suit [...]

BAT caught up in yet another bribery scam at Uganda subsidiary

Cigarette manufacturer British American Tobacco (BAT) is caught up in yet another bribery scam in Uganda, days after the firm was reported to have bribed Kenya’s former Trade minister Moses Wetang’ula. The bribery scams at BAT units in Kenya and Uganda were unearthed by BBC’s Panorama programme [...]

Kenya vulnerable to US rate hike, says report

Outlook report for 2016 says rise in US interest rates, expected next week, will affect economies in Africa by making imports more expensive and lowering capital inflows as the dollar strengthens. Economies that have large import–export imbalances are at risk of suffering when imports become more expensive in the face of a stronger dollar. Kenya’s economy is, however, likely to be shielded from further distress due to the fact that the country is not dependent on commodity exports to China, according to [...]