Uchumi Supermarkets has announced that it will be paying its suppliers in the next three months. The announcement was made when Uchumi’s board of directors met with its suppliers on Friday morning. The supermarket chain further confirmed that it will be selling its non-core assets which are valued at an estimate of Sh. 2 billion. Part of the proceeds from these sales will go towards paying off its suppliers.
Currently, the debt Uchumi owes its suppliers in estimated to be in excess of Sh. 1 billion and has left many of the retailer’s shelves empty!
All debts older than 90 days will be paid in full within three months, with half the outstanding balances to be cleared within the next two weeks.
“We have obtained Sh500 million funding from our bankers, which is available to pay part of the debt as we finalise the disposal of non-core assets worth over Sh2 billion to pay the remainder of the debt over 90 days old,” said Uchumi Supermarket chairperson Khadija Mire in a statement.
