MENU

kenya
Tag Archive

Kenya’s KenGen says full-year pretax profit more than doubles

13 October 2015 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenya’s main electricity generator KenGen said on Monday its pretax profit for the full year to June rose 109 percent to 8.69 billion shillings ($84 million), helped by higher electricity sales.

KenGen, which is 70 percent state-owned, said in a statement its performance was boosted by increased generation from geothermal and wind power.

“Profit before tax increased … propelled by capacity growth, improved performance and tax credit from capital allowances enjoyed by the company following the commissioning of 280 MW geothermal plants, well heads and Ngong Wind,” it said.

It said electricity revenue jumped to 25.6 billion shillings from 17.4 billion the year before.

Earnings per share rose to 5.24 shillings from 1.29 shillings during the year to June 2014 and it said it would pay a dividend of 0.65 shillings per share, up from 0.40 shillings previously.

Operating costs rose to 8.41 billion shillings from 7.02 billion due to operating and maintaining new plants.

KenGen said in July it planned to add another 450 megawatts (MW) to the grid from wind and geothermal in the next three years at a cost of at least $710 million. [ID:nL8N0ZN29V]

Kenya, which depends heavily on renewables such as geothermal and hydro power, aims to expand installed capacity to about 6,700 MW by 2017, from about 2,500 MW now. It also aims to halve bills from between $0.17 and $0.18 per kWh within three to four years.

 

(Reporting by George Obulutsa; Editing by David Holmes, Reuters)

Read more

Orange in final talks to sell Kenyan mobile stake

1 October 2015 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

NAIROBI (Reuters) – France’s Orange SA is in the final round of negotiations with an unidentified party to sell its 70 percent stake in Orange Kenya, Kenya’s finance minister said.

Orange is the latest international operator to quit Kenya, where Safaricom, part owned by Vodafone, has 67 percent of Kenya’s 36 million mobile users.

“(Orange) wants to exit so they are selling their 70 percent,” Finance Minister Henry Rotich, who oversees the government’s 30 percent shareholding in Orange Kenya, told Reuters. “They are in final negotiations.”

Without naming the other party, Rotich said he expected the transaction to be completed “very soon”, adding that it could be completed before the end of year.

Orange paid $390 million for its stake in 2007, aiming to capitalise on what were fast growth rates in the sector. Its plan was to make the firm, then known as Telkom Kenya, profitable and then to take it public in five years.

Orange was not immediately available for a comment.

Faith Mwangi, a research analyst at Standard Investment Bank, said Orange Kenya has struggled in recent years despite enjoying a monopoly in fixed-line telephones.

“They essentially failed to innovate,” she said, adding Orange’s strategy of offering cheaper calls had helped it claw back some market share in recent years.

Orange increased its users to 4.0 million in the quarter ended June from 3.7 million in the previous quarter, industry regulator Communications Authority of Kenya said.

“They have been consistently gaining market share,” Mwangi said.

One of Safaricom’s main advantages has been the development of its pioneering M-Pesa mobile money system, which allows users of even the most basic mobile phones to make payments. Rival offerings have yet to break Safaricom’s dominance.

Kenya has two other telecom operators, India’s Bharti Airtel and Finserve, which is owned by one of the country’s biggest banks’ Equity. India’s Essar Telecoms sold its Kenyan business, Yu, last year after it failed to make it profitable.

Read more