Agricultural firm Sasini Plc invested an additional Sh444.1 million in its subsidiaries through which it is pursuing growth and diversification.
The company says its latest annual report that it raised its investments in its nuts, industrial park and avocado units in the year ended September.
The firm invested Sh224 million in Sasini Nuts EPZ Kenya Limited in the review period, up from Sh10 million a year earlier.
Its stake in the subsidiary remained unchanged at 100 per cent.
Sasini’s macadamia business suffered as lockdowns and restrictions put in place to curb Covid-19 pandemic disrupted its main distribution channels – retail, aviation and hospitality industries.
The company shut down its macadamia factory and focused on processing the nuts that had already been harvested by the time the pandemic broke.
“The macadamia business will recover when the global markets fully reopen for nuts,” Sasini said in the report.
“We are geared to benefit from this as we have all our capabilities lined up to do so. We will drive attention on expanding our client base to support the North American market we currently supply and expand into Europe and Asia.”
The company also invested Sh220 million in Sasini EPZ Park Limited in the review period, up from Sh10 million the year before.
Its stake in the subsidiary was unchanged at 100 per cent.
The Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed firm also invested Sh100,000 to form Sasini Avoca-do EPZ Limited which it fully owns.“We intend to continue strengthening our avocado business by driving further enhancements into our processing and packing units and underpin this with a strong focus on improving and growing our client base in Europe on top of seeking to expand into the Middle East and Asia,” the company said.Sasini made a net profit of Sh12.6 million in the year under review, reversing a net loss of Sh337.7 million recorded the year before.This came as sales rallied 48.3 per cent to Sh4.1 billion from Sh2.7 billion. The company did not declare a dividend.Among the new marketing initiatives taken by the company is the introduction of new tea and coffee brands for the Kenyan market in November last year.“We will invest in driving this pack and product upgrades with adequate consumer and marketing communication going forward and steadily but surely help build the Sasini brand in Kenya,” the company said.