The late industrialist billionaire Chris Kirubi’s firm Centum Investments has posted the first full year loss in over 40 years. The company posted a net loss of Sh. 1.37 billion in the full year ended March 2021.
This was drop from the Sh. 4.63 billion net profit which the firm posted in the previous year. During the financial year, Centum’s investments and businesses posted operating losses. Operating profit fell from Sh. 8.2 billion to a Sh. 1.86 billion loss. Among Centum’s affected businesses was the Two Rivers Development Group.
In the previous year, Centum booked Sh. 12.4 billion one-off gain from disposal of beverage assets. However, in the year ended March 2021, no such gain was realized. Centum also booked a Sh. 4.2 billion revaluation losses, further hurting the bottom-line. “A significant contributor to the revaluation losses is the increase in deferred tax liabilities of Centum Real Estate subsidiaries which impacted the valuations of the real estate portfolio company,” Centum said in a statement.
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Centum founded in 1967 as Industrial and Commercial Development Corporation (ICDC) Investment. In 2008, it rebranded into Centum Investment.
“The payment of the dividend is on the back of operating profit of Sh. 245 million the company recorded in the year and is intended to cushion our shareholders from the effects of the difficult economic conditions while allowing the company to retain liquidity,“ Centum chief executive officer James Mworia said.
