Kenyan tea firms warn of poor annual earnings after H1 profits dip

Kenyan tea firms Williamson Tea and peer Kapchorua reported on Monday weaker first-half pretax profits, and both said falling tea prices would reduce their respective full-year earnings by at least a quarter. Williamson Tea, which shares owners with Kapchorua, said its pretax profit fell by 54% to KES 240 million [...]

Equity Bank rushes to conclude mega deals ahead of new tax roll-out

Equity Bank is facing hundreds of millions of shillings in capital gains tax if it does not conclude key transactions by December 31, 2014. The transactions include the bank’s deal with British American Investments Company (Kenya) for the sale of Equity Bank’s 24.7% stake, or 57 million shares, in Housing Finance (HF). [...]

More on Equity Bank

Equity bets on biometric IDs to curb fraud

Equity Bank, Kenya’s largest lender by customer numbers, has started collecting its customers’ fingerprints as it plans to employ the biometric technology to curb fraud. [...]

Kenya pushes for dual listing of the Eurobond

The Treasury is making good its intention of having the $2 billion (KES 17.8bn) sovereign bond trade on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE). Deputy President William Ruto confirmed that the plan to have the bond trade locally is on course.[...]

AccessKenya Group completes rollout of KES 300M fiber investment

Communications and IT Solutions provider AccessKenya Group has completed the roll-out of its metropolitan fiber network in key target areas around Nairobi and its environs. The move is expected to grow the firm’s connectivity propositions in Industrial area, Ruaraka, Westlands, Parklands, Mombasa road and the Central Business District among other localities. [...]

Now EU to give both loans, grants

The European Union will revise its mode of financing projects in Kenya from merely giving grants to dispensing loans, saying this is necessary to mobilise more finances for development. [...]