(NAIROBI, KENYA) – Centum has disclosed in its latest annual report that businessman Mr Kimani increased his holding from 69.4 million shares, equivalent to a 10.43% stake at the end of March 2025, to 76.59 million shares in the review period.
The additional shares are currently valued at KES 133.38 million ($1.03 million / GBP 815,000 / EUR 951,000) based on Centum’s share price of KES 18.60 and mark the continued accumulation of the investment company’s stock by the businessman.
Mr Kimani bought the additional shares in a period when the Centum stock traded at between KES 11.23 and KES 11.86. His entire stake is now valued KES 1.42 billion ($11 million / GBP 8.7 million / EUR 10.1 million).
The increase extends a sustained rise in Mr Kimani’s ownership of Centum over the past five years, with his stake more than doubling from 4.39% in March 2022 to 11.51% in March this year.
His holding stood at 1.24% in March 2021, before rising to 4.39% in 2022, 5.21% in 2023 and 6.87% in 2024. He then added more than 23.7 million shares in the year to March 2025, taking his stake to 10.43%.
The latest purchase takes his cumulative holding to nearly 9.3 times the 8.26 million shares he owned five years ago.
The increase in Mr Kimani’s stake comes as the ownership structure of Centum’s top shareholders undergoes a slight shift, with the estate of Christopher Kirubi remaining the largest shareholder.
The estate of Mr Kirubi fell by 810,000 shares to 205.1 million shares at the end of March 2026, giving it a 30.82% stake compared with the previous year when the stake was 30.94%.
The estate has retained its position as Centum’s largest shareholder following the death of Mr Kirubi in June 2021.
Kenya Development Corporation is the second largest shareholder with 152.85 million shares, representing a 22.97% stake, unchanged from the previous year.
Mr Kimani is the third largest shareholder, ahead of Centum Investment Company, which held 10.84 million shares or 1.63% through its share buyback programme.
The top three shareholders collectively controlled 65.3% of Centum at the end of March, up from 64.34% a year earlier.
The company had 665.44 million issued shares at the end of the latest financial year, with its top 10 shareholders controlling 72.11% of the stock.
Centum announced a dividend of KES 521 million ($4.03 million / GBP 3.19 million / EUR 3.72 million) with nearly half of it being a special distribution coming on the back of several investment exits in the financial year ended March 2026.
The dividend is made up of an ordinary payout of KES 0.42 per share amounting to KES 281 million ($2.17 million / GBP 1.72 million / EUR 2 million) and a special distribution of KES 0.36 per share totalling KES 240 million ($1.86 million / GBP 1.47 million / EUR 1.71 million). Mr Kimani will receive KES 59.73 million ($462,000 / GBP 365,000 / EUR 426,000) from the distribution.
Centum proposed the dividend despite the group net profit falling by 8.4% to KES 743.91 million ($5.76 million / GBP 4.55 million / EUR 5.31 million) from KES 812.81 million ($6.29 million / GBP 4.97 million / EUR 5.80 million) posted in the previous financial year. At a company level, net profit rose 87% to KES 1.02 billion ($7.89 million / GBP 6.24 million / EUR 7.28 million) from KES 547.13 million ($4.23 million / GBP 3.35 million / EUR 3.91 million)