Safaricom PLC CEO Peter Ndegwa during the company’s 20th anniversary commemoration on October 27, 2020 Safaricom’s share price has rallied to yet another high after the declaration of a surprise interim dividend on Thursday.
The stock price touched an all time high of Ksh.37.80 at the close of trading taking its year to date gains into double digit territory at 10.4 per cent.
The latest rally in the stock price was triggered by Thursday’s board announcement to pay its first ever interim dividend at 45 cents per share for a combined payout of Ksh.18 billion .
Safaricom’s dividend announcement was nevertheless against a depressed macro-economic environment occasioned by the pandemic which has seen peer firms take conservative cash positions to include the suspension of dividends.
“This is in recognition of the company’s solid half-year performance and to support our shareholders during this difficult economic times occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic,” the company stated.
The Safaricom stock was quoted at a year low of Ksh24.35 on March 13 last year revealing gains of 55.2 per cent to shareholders in just under 52 weeks of trading since the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) worst day of 2020.
Safaricom’s share price is predicted to keep rising with the company being tipped to pay a second and final dividend from earnings in its financial year ending on March 30.
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