Bamburi profit jump bucks rival firms trend

Cement maker Bamburi has reported a 50.4 per cent jump in net profit to Sh5.8 billion for the year ended December, in a sharp contrast to the fortunes of its NSE-listed rivals ARM Cement and EAPCC which are in the red. The company’s performance was boosted by growth in sales to private contractors and the government which is spending billions of shillings on construction of roads and the standard gauge railway [...]

CIC profit marginally up as industry reports a bad year

CIC Insurance recorded a 4.4 per cent growth in net profit for the 2015 financial year, helped by deferred tax which partly covered for a fall in income. The market has been bracing for lower income from the insurance firms which are major investors in the equities market. The firm’s management sounded a positive note on the prospects for this year, saying that new lines of business are likely to start bearing fruit [...]

Bob Diamond eyes Barclays Africa units

Barclays Bank’s interests outside of South Africa could be set to be sold to their former CEO Bob Diamond, according to a series of reports in the Western media. Mr Diamond’s Atlas Mara financial services business is understood to have held preliminary talks with sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East and Asia about Barclays Africa interests [...]

Cash-strapped KQ mulls staff pay cuts in turnaround plan

Troubled national carrier Kenya Airways is considering staff salary cuts in the ongoing restructuring in a move that could trigger fresh confrontation with the workers’ union. CEO Mbuvi Ngunze said in a TV interview on Wednesday that Kenya Airways has put on the table the two options, of either cutting staff salaries or sacking others [...]

Bank investors take Sh3.3bn bond hit on high interest rates

Shareholders’ wealth has taken a hit as commercial lenders booked billions in bond losses following a spike in interest rates late last year. The income of five banks that have so far released their 2015 results was reduced by Sh3.3 billion owing to the inverse relation between interest rates and the value of bonds held. Treasury yields shot up at the end of the year as the government aggressively sought to cover or a cash crunch arising from shortfall in revenues [...]

Kenya EPZs ranked low on wealth creation

Kenya’s Export Processing Zones (EPZs) have failed to meet expectations on wealth and job creation, the World Bank (WB) says in a new report as the government prepares to reform the model.  The bank said bad timing and weaknesses in design hobbles the performance of the EPZ despite rapid expansion boosted by the US government Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa)-linked apparel exports [...]

Private equity firm AfricInvest buys stake in packaging company Silafrica

Private equity firm AfricInvest has invested in Silafrica Plastics and Packaging International which has presence in Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and India. The investment, whose size was not disclosed, through its AfricInvest Fund III is aimed at consolidating the position of Silafrica’s brands in its current markets, raise its product range as well as expand geographically to ten countries on the continent [...]

Nakuru elders caution KenGen land row risks geothermal power plan

The protracted land row at the Ng’ati Farmers’ Co-operative in Maella, Naivasha, threatens geothermal exploration in the area, county leaders have warned. The Rift Valley Council of Elders says, if not solved urgently, the land dispute threatens to derail Kenya’s target of lighting up 70 per cent of households by 2017 [...]