Author: Muindi

KCB Group has reported a KSh9.75 billion net profit for the period ended March 31, 2023. The total assets rose by 39.8 per cent to close at Sh1.63 trillion on the back of the consolidation of its Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) subsidiary. The lender attributed the performance to a 26.9 per cent rise in revenues which closed the quarter at KSh36.9 billion, driven mainly by non-funded income (NFIs) from customer transactions across the Group network and consolidation of Trust Merchant Bank (TMB), the Group’s newest subsidiary in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Group Chief Executive Paul Russo said the…

Safaricom, Kenya’s biggest telecoms operator, plans to set up a factory in Kenya that will assemble between 1.2 million and 1.4 million smartphones annually. The cheapest device will retail at Ksh 11,500. However, new taxes on mobile phones proposed in the Finance Bill, 2023, make the devices costly, as the levies will push the price up by 40 per cent. Safaricom’s Head of Ventures, Karanja Gichiri, appearing before the parliamentary Finance and Planning committee on Tuesday, said that if they were to work with the President’s vision of a 50-dollar phone, they needed to address the question of import, excise,…

Netflix has begun clamping down on password sharing according to its revised policy. “Your Netflix account is for you and the people you live with — your household,” Netflix said Tuesday. This means Netflix will restrict viewership of its programming to people living in the same household.  Account holders can add more people outside of the household for an extra $7.99 a month, or they can use the “transfer profile” feature to prompt extra users to make their own accounts that they pay for. In April, the video streamer said more than 100 million households are using a shared password, including 30…

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Kenya have reached a staff-level agreement worth KSh 56.58 billion ($410 million). The agreement includes the latest review of Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangements and a new arrangement under the fund’s Resilience and Sustainability Facility. If approved, the arrangements provide access to a total amount of SDR1.818 billion (about US$2.43 billion at the current exchange rate).  The mission led by Haimanot Teferra also considered Kenya’s request for access under the IMF’s Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) and further augmentation under the EFF/ECF. “The agreement is subject to IMF management…

British oil and gas exploration company Tullow will assume a 100 per cent equity position in the Project Oil Kenya development following the withdrawal of its two joint venture partners. In an emailed statement, TotalEnergies and Africa Oil Corp, which held a 25 per cent stake each in the project, will withdraw from blocks 10BA, 10BB and 13T for differing internal strategic reasons. Tullow holds a 50% stake in the south Lokichar field. “With the strategic exit of Africa Oil Corp and Total Energies from the Project, Tullow will assume a 100 per cent equity position, subject to the Government…

Eveready East Africa says its top shareholder, East Africa Batteries Limited (EABL), will sell its 35 per cent (73.4 million shares) stake to Dubai-based InvestAfrica FZCO in a private transaction. “InvestAfrica does not intend to make a general offer to acquire all the voting shares in the company [Eveready] following the proposed transaction and there is no intention to delist the company from the Nairobi Securities Exchange after completion of the proposed transaction,” Eveready said in a filing with the Capital Markets Authority. “InvestAfrica intends to provide management and technical support to the company following completion of the proposed transaction.”…