Sasini Ltd has issued a profit warning projecting that earnings for the financial year ended 31st September 2012 will be at least 25 percent lower than what the company made last year.
“The Board of Directors of Sasini Limited Wishes to inform the shareholders of the Company and potential investors that the Company’s projected earnings for the year ending 30th September 2012 are expected to be more than 25% lower than the reported earnings for the previous financial year…”, a statement released through the NSE on Friday said.
The company, which is one of Kenya’s leading tea and coffee producers, has attributed the reduced earnings forecast to lower coffee prices, higher input and labor costs and lower non-trading profits this year compared to last year.
Last year, Sasini’s operating profit after tax increased 10 percent to 387.5 million shillings from 352.5 million shillings in 2010. Final Profit after tax however fell 60 percent to 391.2 million on lower asset valuation gains despite a 16 percent rise in revenues to 2.6 billion according to last year’s annual report.
Kenya accounts for 9.75 percent of the world’s tea production according to the Tea Board of Kenya with Sasini as the country’s top tea and coffee producer by market value according to a July Bloomberg news report.