Kenya's Uchumi sinks into red but confident of east Africa expansion

Kenya's Uchumi Supermarkets Ltd posted a mid-year pretax loss after investing in new branches but said it was confident its expansion strategy in east Africa would soon pay off. A rise in staff costs and higher rental prices, including on stores which are yet to open, led into a pretax loss of 262 million shillings (2.9 million) for the half year to December 31 [...]

Muthoka enters list of Safaricom’s top 10 investors

Two billionaire investors have raised their stakes in telecommunications company, Safaricom, indicating a shifting shareholders roll for the firm whose share price has been on a rally. The share purchases, reflected in Safaricom’s latest regulatory filings, show investor John Kibunga Kimani is now the biggest individual shareholder of Safaricom while businessman Peter Muthoka has showed up on the list of the telco’s top ten individual investors for the first time as per the December filings [...]

Petitioner wants all bank customers in class action suit

StanChart was sued by Florence Wanjiru in 2003, for failing to seek the minister’s approval to charge interest rates, and the CBK for failing to regulate banks and allowing them to arbitrarily increase rates. More than 1,200 people had shown interest in being enjoined last year but less than 200 officially registered. The litigants are seeking a refund of all money the lenders levied without the approval of the Finance minister as provided under the Banking Act of 1989. If the application is accepted banks could make refunds to more than twenty million deposit account holders in the country and two million borrowers [...]

President Uhuru announces that construction of Lamu Port begins next month

President Uhuru Kenyatta has announced that construction of the Lamu port begins next month, providing an opportunity for the exploitation of the country’s maritime resources. He indicated that this choice of investment was prudent since the maritime industry is the carrier of 92 per cent of Kenya’s international trade by volume, and given the importance of international trade to the country’s prosperity. [...]

Fairview hotel owner blames travel warning for poor results

City Lodge, a South African hotelier which operates Fairview Hotel and the Country Lodge in Kenya, says its Kenyan hotels performed poorly in the second quarter of 2014 due to the travel advisories that have negatively impacted the industry. Despite troubles in the industry, City Lodge is putting up a Sh2 billion three-star hotel at Centum’s Two Rivers mixed development off the Eastern bypass in Runda. In addition, TPS Eastern Africa, that owns hotels in the region and trades on the Nairobi Securities Exchange, announced insecurity and Ebola effect will see its net profit for 2014 reduce by more than 25 per cent [...]

Oil firm Taipan strikes dry well in Mandera

Canadian oil exploration firm Taipan Resources has struck a dry well in Mandera in an ironic twist after a dispute with locals seeking to block drilling. The listed explorer said it was reconsidering further work in the area after drilling 3,500 metres over 46 days in Block 12B. Exploration on its other block, also located in Mandera has run into headwinds after fallout with its partner, Afren of the UK, for failing to do its share of exploration work. Meanwhile, the community wants oil exploration stopped saying it will disrupt livelihoods [...]