Centum Investment has recorded a 16 percent drop in profit after tax, to Sh8.3 billion for the 2017 financial year.
Centum Group's end of year profit drops to Sh8.3 billion
The group attributed the drop to lower realized gains on investments and poor performance in its financial services.
This is compared to Sh9.9 billion in the same period last year with the bank attributing the drop tolower realized gains on investments and poor performance in its financial services.
While releasing the results on Tuesday, Centum CEO James Mworia said that the poor performance on Centum’s financial services subsidiaries such as Sidian Bank were tied to the introduction of the interest rate capping which resulted in “a challenging operating environment for the industry.”
“Last year we sold more, we had about Sh5 billion in realized gains, this year we are Sh1 billion, the Sh4 billion differences contribute to the decline,” said Mworia.
Centum in the period under review sold its entire 26.43 per cent stake in Kenya Wine Agencies Ltd to South African brewer Distell, and sold an eight per cent stake in Platinum Credit, a non-deposit taking micro finance, to remain with a 27.6 per cent shareholding.
On the other hand, the total assets grew by a fifth to Sh61.5 billion from Sh51.5 billion as at March 2016.
Total borrowings ballooned 40 per cent to Sh14.65 billion at the end of March 2017, compared with Sh10.47 billion in a similar period a year earlier.
In addition, the group’s board declared an enhanced dividend of Sh1.20 per share from Sh1.00 paid to shareholders last year.
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