Longhorn board pay up 50pc as profit flat

Longhorn Publishers chief executive Maxwell Wahome. FILE PHOTO | NMG Longhorn Publishers #ticker:LKL saw the remuneration of its board of directors rise 50.1 percent in the year ended June when its net income rose marginally to Sh185.1 million.

The Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed firm paid its board members a total of Sh37.2 million in the year ended June compared to Sh24.8 million a year earlier, according to its latest annual report. The pay jump was driven by a mix of factors, including higher fees paid to individual directors and the exit compensation of former chief executive Simon Ngigi who resigned on September 3, 2018. Fees paid to the directors rose by between 8.5 percent and 154.3 percent.

Non-executive director Ali Kassim, for instance, saw his remuneration jump to Sh2 million in the review period compared to Sh801,000 the year before.

Centum Investment Company #ticker:ICDC, which has a controlling 60.2 percent in the publisher in which it is also listed as a director, recorded a 61.1 percent jump in its fees to Sh1.3 million from Sh829,000.

The investment firm’s executive Fred Murimi, who is also a non-executive director of Longhorn, saw his fees rise by an almost similar margin at 61 percent to Sh1.3 million from Sh829,000.

Longhorn’s founder Francis Nyammo recorded the lowest fee growth of 8.5 percent to Sh2.2 million from Sh2.1 million.

The publisher’s board pay was also bumped up by the exit of its former chief executive Simon Ngigi who was paid a total of Sh10.5 million, including a gratuity of Sh3.8 million in the two months ended August 2018.

His final compensation raised the total executive pay bill in the year ended June when his successor Maxwell Wahome earned a total of Sh15.1 million.

Longhorn’s sales dropped 5.6 percent to Sh1.6 billion in the review period, with the company reducing costs to post the 0.8 percent growth in net profit to Sh185.1 million.

The company says Mr Wahome, who was appointed on September 4, 2018, has been leading the company in its regional expansion besides deepening its foray in digital publishing. “In the financial year that has ended, Mr Wahome has been able to steer the company towards growing its digital publishing section through the continuous improvement in the accessibility of Longhorn digital products making them available on mobile phones,” Longhorn says in the report.

“Mr Wahome has continued to guide the company in growing its presence into Francophone Africa as evidenced by Longhorn’s entrance into […]

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