Centum Investment Company has rewarded shareholders with its biggest dividend increase in years, after stronger cash flows from its investment portfolio offset a difficult year for some of its businesses.
The investment firm announced plans to more than double the cash it will return to shareholders this year, proposing a dividend of 78 cents per share, up from 31 cents last year.
The payout includes the usual annual dividend plus an additional one-off special dividend, taking the total cash distribution to Sh521 million.
The higher payout comes even as the group’s net profit after tax fell 8.5 per cent to Sh744 million for the year ended March 31, 2026, from Sh813 million the previous year.
The board, however, based its dividend decision on the performance of the holding company, At the company level, profit after tax nearly doubled to about Sh1.02 billion, supported by Sh1.24 billion in cash distributions received from portfolio companies during the year.
The proposed dividend represents about 51 per cent of those earnings.
Centum Group chief executive officer James Mworia said the successful conclusion of the company’s balance sheet deleveraging plan initiated in 2020 also marks the beginning of a new phase focused on progressively increasing shareholder returns while continuing to invest for future growth.
“Over the past decade we have successfully built one of the region’s leading investment portfolios by combining disciplined capital allocation with long-term investment execution. As the portfolio matured, we balanced three objectives: continuing to invest for growth, returning capital to shareholders and strengthening the balance sheet through disciplined debt repayment.”
In the period under review, Centum’s consolidated business slipped into a pre-tax loss of Sh643 million, compared with a pre-tax profit of Sh2.1 billion a year earlier, after losses from major property developments and lower gains in the value of its investment portfolio.
However, a Sh1.4 billion tax credit helped return the group to an after-tax profit. The company attributed the weaker performance to lower fair value gains on investments, a Sh964 million loss at the Two Rivers Special Economic Zone and a Sh792 million loss from its development operations.
Centum said it has substantially completed the debt reduction programme it began in 2020, allowing more cash generated by its investments to be directed toward shareholder returns while continuing to fund future growth opportunities.
“This year’s increased ordinary dividend and special dividend represent the first step in that next phase,” Mworia said.
The company said its Net Asset Value rose to Sh46.3 billion, equivalent to Sh69.65 per share, from Sh66.93 per share a year earlier, reflecting continued growth in the underlying value of its investment portfolio.
During the year, Centum secured a strategic investor for the Vipingo Special Economic Zone, providing long-term funding to complete the 2,000-acre project without requiring additional equity from the company.
The transaction also enabled the project to fully repay the debt used to acquire the land, allowing future cash flows to be channelled to shareholders rather than lenders.
