The top 10 investors in the Nairobi Securities Exchange will receive fat cheques with a cumulative value of close to two billion shillings from listed companies. As the year heads towards the half way mark, what in investment is also called second half, many companies whose shares are traded at the NSE have released their financial results. An analysis by The People Saturday estimates that the 10 investors will receive a total of Sh1.7 billion.
The analysis, however, focuses only on the companies that have released their results for the laswt trading. It also narrows down on just the big 10 investors. Among the companies that have announced their results are those controlled by the Aga Khan. Within the Aga Khan empire, only TPS East Africa has not yet released its annual trading results by the time we went to press. Three of his listed companies have announced impressive results where they have posted multi millions and recommended handsome dividends for investors.
The three include media operator Nation Media Group (NMG), surging small business lender Diamond Trust Bank, and East Africa’s biggest life insurer, Jubilee Insurance. Out of the impressive profits from the three companies, the Aga Khan will be receiving cheques that will amount to Sh1.002 billion. This makes his the top dividend earner at the bourse. NMG announced that it will be recommending a dividend of Sh10 per share.
Essentially this means that thanks to his 70.1 million shares, the Aga Khan will take home a cheque of Sh701.6 million shillings. In NMG, his shares are held through the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED). In DTB, the Aga Khan has 67.5 million shares. With the bank directors recommending a dividend of Sh2.10 per share, he will be getting a cheque of Sh141.88 million.
From his 22.7 million shares in Jubilee Insurance, the Aga Khan will be expecting a cheque of Sh159.2 million following the insurer’s directors recommendation of Sh7 per share dividend. The second biggest earner is Equity Bank’s Dr James Mwangi, who will be expecting cheques amounting to Sh201.4 million from the bank and financial services giant Britam. In 2013, Equity Bank continued on its trajectory of growth registering significant jumps in critical aspects of the business.
The bank’s after tax profit went up by 9.91 percent to Sh13.277 billion from Sh12.08 billion the previous while assets posted a 14.2 percent growth to close at Sh277.72 billion up from Sh243.17 billion. In Equity Bank, Dr Mwangi has 127.8 million shares. With the bank directors recommending a dividend payout of Sh1.50 per share, he is entitled to a cheque of Sh191.7 million.
In Britam his shares are 75,000,000 earning him Sh18.7 million. Britam has recommended a dividend payout of 30 cents per share. At third place is University of Nairobi Chancellor, Joe Wanjui who will take home Sh101 million. Wanjui is the lead investor at UAP insurance where he owns 43 million shares held through Bawan Ltd. UAP declared a dividend payout of Sh2.35 per share.
Wanjui is closely followed by Naushad Merali. Although Merali’s energy investment through Eveready East Africa have not been posting returns for the last five years, his other investments have generated for him a tidy sum of Sh96million. Tyre maker and marketer Sameer Africa, where he increased his shares from 159 million to 200 million, earned him 60 million after the company’s board proposed a 30 cents per share dividend.
His tea and coffee production and marketing flagship Sasini Tea and Coffee, on the other hand, earned him Sh36.1 million. Merali’s shares in the company, which proposed an interim dividend of 25cents in its half year results, are 144.4 million. The estate of former Central Bank Governor Philip Ndegwa comes in fifth mainly driven by its investments in NIC Bank. The family controls 86 million shares through First Chartered Securities and ICEA LION Assets Managers.
With the bank declaring a Sh1 dividend per share, the family will be taking home Sh86 million. Then there is investor Jimna Mbaru who will be taking home Sh54 million. Mbaru’s earnings are on account of his 219.3 million shares in Britam which earned a dividend of 30cents per share. One of the biggest hitters in the NSE is industrialist and media honcho, Chris Kirubi. Kirubi investments in the NSE are in many sectors.
However, the most prominent are the ones in investment firm Centum, UAP and Kenya Power and Lighting Company Ltd. Centum has indicated that it will be reviewing its freeze on dividend payout that has been in the running for the last four years. If the firm finally decides to pay out dividends this year, then Kirubi’s position among the top earners is likely to change.
For now, since KPLC has also not announced its results, Kirubi’s earning stand at Sh47.6 million from his shareholding in UAP. In the insurer, who has declared a dividend pay of Sh2.35, his shares are 20.2 million. Equity Bank Chairman and founder, Peter Munga follows Kirubi closely. From his investments in the bank, Munga will be carting away Sh41.8 million. His shares in the bank are 15.4 million. Cooperative Bank CEO Gideon Muriuki will also be taking a handsome reward.
Under Muriuki’s watch, the bank has emerged as major contender for the top five best performing banks in Kenya. He pulled it from suffocating government control and fully privatised it by having it listed at the bourse. As the biggest individual shareholder in the bank, Muriuki owns 77.4 million shares. With the bank declaring a dividend of 50cents per share, he will be receiving a Sh38 million cheque.
At tenth position is Britam’s Managing Director Benson Wairegi. This year, the financial services firm saw its profits before tax surge 12 percent to Sh3.2 billion. One of the outstanding aspects of the firm was income from its investments subsidiary which jumped 26 percent to 6.3 billion, a factor which Wairegi said was the major driver for the company’s overall profit growth. Wairegi owns 100.2 million shares. With a dividend payout of 30cents, he will be expecting a cheque of Sh25 million.
By GITAHI NGUNYI @gitahi_ngunyi
-thepeople.co.ke
