Author: Martin Mwita

Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) has posted a 9.4 per cent growth in net profit for the first quarter ended March, buoyed by returns from investment in government securities and non-funded revenue.

The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) listed lender closed the period with a Ksh1.97 billion profit after tax compared to Ksh1.80 billion posted last year.

The Group defied a tough operating environment to build customer deposits to Ksh275 billion, while the asset base grew to Ksh370 billion, entrenching the DTB’s position as a leading tier one bank in Kenya and the wider East African region.

On the back of an industry-wide subdued growth in loans, the group’s investment in Treasury Bills and Treasury Bonds grew to Ksh124 billion at the end of March 2019, compared to Ksh118 billion at the same time last year.

DTB’s non- performing loan book declined marginally to Ksh12.4 billion, from Ksh13.2 billion a year earlier, …

The Kenyan government has once again gone to the market with its unique mobile phone based bond M-Akiba, as it seeks to raise funds to support infrastructure development in the country.

In a second issue this year, the National Treasury has re-opened the retail infrastructure bond as targeting to raise Ksh250 million (US$2.47million).

The bond was opened to the public on Monday, May 27, and will run up to Friday June 7, 2019. The value date shall be on Monday, June 10, 2019 and will start trading at the NSE on Tuesday, June 11, 2019, the government has said.

“Following the successful uptake of M-Akiba Retail Infrastructure Bond in March which attracted 79 per cent subscription rate, The National Treasury, the Central Depository and Settlement Corporation and the Nairobi Securities Exchange have jointly reopened the M-Akiba Retail Infrastructure Bond Issue No MAB/2/2017/03 to offer Kenyans another opportunity to invest in …

The Kenyan government has now resorted to vetting of importers and exporters of consolidated cargo in the latest move to curb tax evasion.

This comes in the wake of recent piling of cargo at the Nairobi Inland Container Deport (ICD) as authorities opted for 100 per cent verification on containers with consolidated goods.

This is on suspicion of under-declaration and misdeclaration by traders in a tax evasion racket that has been denying the government revenues amounting to billions of shillings.

Rogue state officials have been accused of colluding with unscrupulous traders to facilitate false declarations, denying the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) requisite taxes, such as import duty, a move said to have led to a loss of over Ksh100 billion(US$987.8million) in the recent past.

They are also said to allow in counterfeits into the market and through the transit route into the hinterland in exchange for kickbacks.

The verification process …

The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has received a go-ahead to collect more than Ksh2.7billion (US$26.7 million) worth of monthly taxes on withholding tax on winnings from Sportpesa.

This follows a ruling by Milimani Commercial Courts Chief Magistrate, Peter Gesora, allowing KRA to collect withholding taxes on winnings from betting games on the Sportpesa platform among others, that have been failing to withhold tax on winnings.

The landmark ruling delivered on Thursday, May 23, 2019 arose from a 2014 suit filed by a Mr. Benson Irungu against Sportpesa Ltd trading as Pevans East Africa.

READ:Why Kenya will not collect taxes from sports betting

The suit sought to stop Sportpesa from deducting and remitting taxes arising from Mr Irungu’s and any other person’s winnings.

In his ruling last Thursday, Chief Magistrate Gesora while dismissing Mr Irungu’s case noted that the nature of sports betting, winnings are unpredictable and a player cannot …

In yet another review of the country’s macroeconomics, Kenya’s Central Bank has held the benchmark lending rate at 9 per cent, meaning banks in the country will continue giving loans with a maximum interest rate of 13 per cent.

This is under the Banking Act which caps lending rates at four percentage points above the CBK rate.

The decision was reached on Monday by CBK’s decision making organ-Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), which meets every two months to review the outcome of its previous policy decisions and recent economic developments.

The meeting was held against a backdrop of domestic macroeconomic stability, sustained optimism on the economic growth prospects, improving weather conditions in most parts of the country and increased uncertainties in the global financial markets.

This is the sixth time the MPC is retaining the benchmark rate at nine per cent after bringing it down from 9.5 per cent in July …

Kenya’s capital-Nairobi could soon have an oversupply of hotel rooms, latest trends have indicated, in the wake of heavy investments in the hospitality industry.

Whilst the inclination reflects investor confidence in the country as the city continues to attract high level conferences and investments by multinationals and locals, concerns are now that an oversupply will drawback returns in the industry as hotels scramble to fill rooms.

Average occupancy in the city’s high end hotels (three to five star) remains at 52 per cent, with the number of hotel rooms tripling in the last five years to more than 19,000.

A recent report by consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), estimates that the number of available rooms will increase to above 21,000 in the next two years.

READ:Kenya, Ethiopia whet the appetite of Hyatt Hotels for East Africa

This comes as investments in high end hotels continues to be driven by international …

Kenya has unveiled a mortgage refining facility-Kenya Mortgage Refinance Company (KMRC), a short in the arm in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s affordable housing scheme under the Big Four Agenda.

KMRC is a non- deposit taking financial institution under the supervision of the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK).

The company was incorporated on April 19, 2018 with the single purpose of providing long-term funds to primary mortgage lenders (banks, micro finance banks and saccos) in order to increase the availability and affordability of mortgage loans to Kenyans.

READ:Mortgages more unaffordable as Kenya house prices increase in 2018

KMRC shareholders and funding

The company was established as a private public investment with majority ownership by the private sector at 80 per cent and government 20 per cent. Its current shareholders comprise: the national treasury and planning; eight (8) commercial banks; eleven (11) deposit taking Savings and Credit Co-operatives (Saccos) and one (1) …

ARM Cement has signed a USD50 million (Ksh5.1 billion) deal for the transfer of its business to Devki group’ National Cement Company Limited.

The deal involved acquisition of all cement and non-cement assets and business of ARM Cement PLC in Kenya.

ARM Cement and its subsidiaries currently have operations in Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda. The Company also has some interests, in the form of unexploited mineral deposits, in South Africa.

The principal activities of the company and its subsidiaries are the manufacture and distribution of cement, mining and processing of industrial minerals and chemicals, trading in other building products and the sale of fertilizers.

Listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), ARM Cement was placed under administration last year (August 17) after it failed to meet its creditor obligations.

The cement manufacturer owes its creditors, whom include local banks, about USD190 million.

Failure to meet its debt obligations has now …

The Coca-Cola Company has announced it will maintain its majority stake in Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) for the foreseeable future.

With the change, Coca-Cola will begin presenting the financial statements of CCBA within its results from continuing operations in the second quarter of 2019 in accordance with U.S. accounting standards, the firm has confirmed.

CCBA has been accounted for as a discontinued operation since Coca-Cola became the controlling shareowner in October 2017.

Coca-Cola previously announced its intention to refranchise CCBA, which is the largest bottler of Coca-Cola beverages in Africa, serving 12 countries. The company has had discussions with a number of potential partners.

“Coca-Cola Beverages Africa is a very important part of the Coca-Cola system, and we see great opportunities to create even more value,” said Coca-Cola President and Chief Operating Officer Brian Smith.

“While we remain committed to the refranchising process, we believe it’s in the best interests …

French electric  utility multinational—ENGIE (www.Engie-Africa.com) has been selected for the operation and maintenance of the Orange Services Group’s data center in Abidjan, for a five-year contract that will start early June 2019.

This data center of the latest generation, built by the Orange Service Group (GOS), is one of the few data centers existing in West Africa complying with the Level IV classification.

READ:How Dimension Data and SAP will roll out Intelligent enterprise solutions in East Africa

According to the classification, it has the required redundancies to ensure continuity of service in all circumstances. It received the award of Best Data Center from Africa at the 2017 “Data cloud Congress” in Monaco.

The perimeter of the contract includes preventive maintenance of the multi-technical lots of the data center buildings, including the electrical substations, high voltage, cooling and air conditioning, Central Management Technology, fire alarm systems, security and …