(Adds details, outlook, share price)
NAIROBI, Nov 27 (Reuters) – Kenya’s Centum Investment Company expects a better second half performance, lifted by a resumption in dividend payments from some of the companies it has shares in, its chief executive said after it posted a first-half loss.
Centum swung to a loss in the six months to Sept. 30 due to pandemic-induced market uncertainty, though the lean performance was offset by its cash and marketable securities holdings.
The company, which owns shares in listed and non-listed companies in manufacturing, banking and publishing, had a pre-tax loss of 2.05 billion shillings ($18.67 million) in the first half from a 7.72 billion shilling profit in the same period last year.
Chief Executive James Mworia said the company expected an improvement in the second half.
“We have received dividends from portfolio companies, so that should be an improvement,” Mworia told a virtual news conference.
“In the second half we have seen an improvement in the operating performance of the subsidiary companies. So we are seeing it will (be) better than the first half,” he said, but gave no further details.
At 1030 GMT, Centum’s shares were down 4.5% to trade at 17.00 shillings.
Centum said income for the six months ended Sept. 30 fell to 433.5 million shillings from 12.4 billion shillings last year.
The company said earlier it was confident it would withstand the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, due to its holdings in cash and marketable securities and minimal exposure to listed firms.
In the period under review, its cash and marketable securities stood at 8.3 billion shillings, with most of it invested in fixed-income securities.Centum was expected to get a lift from its real estate business over the next three years, when it realises sales worth 4 billion shillings, with about half of that being profit.In the last six months, Centum Real Estate recorded sales of 1.7 billion shillings and collected 650 million shillings.Centum is closely watched by investors as it offers exposure to opportunities such as shopping mall developments and listed and unlisted companies across East Africa.It said its earnings per share fell to 2.09 shillings from 10.70 shillings last year. ($1 = 109.8000 Kenyan shillings) (Reporting by George Obulutsa; Editing by Elias Biryabarema and David Evans)