August 14, 2025 is a day that will be remain etched in the memories of all KCB Group shareholders for a long time to come. This was the day that the banking group announced that it will be paying out Sh12.98 billion in dividend to its shareholders.
This dividend is made up of Sh2 per share interim dividend and an additional special dividend of Sh2 per share derived from the sale of the National Bank of Kenya (NBK).
“This is split between Sh2 for the interim and Sh2 special out of the sale of NBK. All that amounts to a payout of just under Sh13 billion. I think that’s the largest interim dividend that KCB has ever paid,” KCB Group finance director Lawrence Kimanthi said
This announcement sent shockwaves to the market, with the KCB Group counter turning into a hot cake. The counter moved from the previous day’s average trading price of Sh49.35 per share to close the market at a high of Sh52.75 per share.
Since the bank’s financial results and special dividend were announced close to end of trading, shareholders waited with bated breath to see how the market would react on Friday.
A spot check by Bizna Kenya shows that the KCB Group stock did not disappoint. The stock enjoyed a day’s trading high of Sh55 per share and a low of Sh52. It closed the last trading day of the week at an average of Sh54 per share.
Interestingly, this implies that between Wednesday August 13 and Friday August 15, shareholders of KCB Group gained Sh4.65 per share in stock appreciation alone.
An analysis by Bizna Kenya shows that KCB Group’s good tidings to shareholders were historical in various ways. To begin with, the Sh2 per share main interim dividend that the Group announced was higher than the interim dividend of Sh1.50 per share that the lender had paid out in the same period the previous year.
It reflected in the 7.9 percent gain in the net profit of Sh31.5 billion that was realized in the first six months of the year 2025 against the Sh29.2 billion net profit that was realized in the first six months of 2024. In that year 2024, KCB Group had paid out a total of Sh4.8 billion in interim dividend.
Cumulatively, the total of Sh4 per share dividend made up of the main interim dividend and the special dividend was higher than the total dividend payout of Sh3 per share that was paid out in 2024.
“Our strong half year performance and the projected trajectory of the business has allowed us a great bandwidth to propose a historic special and interim dividend to shareholders,” KCB Group Chairman Dr. Joseph Kinyua said.
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At the same time, the total amount of close to Sh13 billion in dividend payout was higher than the Sh9.6 billion that the bank paid out as total dividend in 2024.
“Assuming that the bank matches the interim dividend of Sh2 in its full year results by paying out a final dividend of Sh2 per share, then shareholders will have received a total of Sh6 per share in the Group’s 2025 financial year alone,” says Jackson Mwaura, a financial consultant and securities and investments analyst.
Interestingly, KCB Group shareholders who took position around November 2023 when the stock was trading at a low of Sh15 per share have gained by a mind-boggling 266 percent as at the highest trading price of 55 per share that was recorded on Friday, August 14, 2025.
Mr. Mwaura points out that the ripe fruits of the special dividend that shareholders are enjoying came from the strategic completion of the sale of NBK on May 30, 2025. “Despite what initially appeared as transaction and closure hiccups, the management of the lender was able to finalize the deal which gave the Group around Sh14.2 billion,” he says. KCB Group sold NBK to Nigeria’s Access Bank.
Currently, KCB Group is the largest bank in East and Central Africa. The Group holds customer deposits of around Sh1.5 trillion and assets of around Sh2 trillion. Interestingly, part of the money the Group got from sale of NBK will be allocated towards capitalizing its Tanzania operations.
This is even as the lender continues to explore market opportunities in the neighbouring Ethiopia, in an expansion that could add more medium to long term value for shareholders.
“We are monitoring the developments in Ethiopia and doing sufficient evaluation… We are on course with our strategy. At the end of the day, we just have to get our customer experience right,” says KCB Group chief executive officer Paul Russo.
