Safaricom Leads $576 Million NSE Dividend Payouts

(NAIROBI, KENYA) – Shareholders of companies listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange will receive KES74.95 billion ($576.5 million / £454.2 million) in dividends between late August and early November, boosted by a sharp rise in corporate profits and share prices.

The payouts have become a key source of cash for individuals and businesses in an economy still dealing with costly credit and reduced incomes. While the dividends will support demand for goods and services, 45% of the cash, or KES33 billion ($253.8 million / £200 million), will be repatriated by multinational shareholders with stakes in the listed firms.

Safaricom, East Africa Breweries Limited (EABL), KCB Group, BAT Kenya, Stanbic Holdings, Absa Bank Kenya and NCBA Group will start paying dividends from 30th August through early November. Others are Car & General, Kapchorua Tea, Williamson Tea, Crown Paints, Liberty Kenya Holdings and Laptrust Imara I-Reit.

Most of the companies reported higher profits this year, allowing them to raise payouts by 42%, or KES22.3 billion ($171.5 million / £135.1 million), from the KES52.7 billion ($405.4 million / £319.4 million) the 13 companies paid in the same period last year. The dividends are a mix of interim and final payouts depending on each company’s financial reporting calendar.

Wesley Manambo, a senior research associate at Standard Investment Bank, said the higher dividends are driven by revenue growth, with falling financing costs on balance sheets also creating room for bigger payouts. He said banks and companies such as Safaricom, EABL and Car & General have reported record profits that gave them money to reward shareholders.

Safaricom is making the biggest distribution at KES46.08 billion ($354.5 million / £279.3 million), to be paid on 4th September to shareholders on the register by 4th August. The payment relates to the telco’s final dividend of KES1.15 ($0.0088 / £0.0070) per share declared in May when it released results for the year ended March 2026. Net profit rose 37% to KES95.6 billion ($735.4 million / £579.4 million).

In the previous year, the company’s final dividend was KES0.65 ($0.005 / £0.0039) per share, meaning it distributed KES26 billion ($200 million / £157.6 million) at this time in 2025.

KCB will pay KES9.64 billion ($74.2 million / £58.4 million) in interim dividends on 10th November at KES3 ($0.023 / £0.018) per share. The bank announced half year results last week showing net profit rose 14.2% to KES36 billion ($276.9 million / £218.2 million). In 2025, its half year interim dividend was KES2 ($0.015 / £0.012) per share, but it also paid a special dividend of KES2 per unit from the sale of National Bank of Kenya to Nigerian lender Access Plc.

Other banks that have declared interim dividends are NCBA, Stanbic and Absa, with payouts on 8th September, 15th September and 15th October respectively. NCBA is paying KES6.18 billion ($47.5 million / £37.5 million) after raising its interim dividend for the half year to June to KES3.75 ($0.029 / £0.023) per share from KES2.50 ($0.019 / £0.015) a year earlier. Stanbic will distribute KES1.5 billion ($11.5 million / £9.1 million) after halving its dividend to KES1.64 ($0.013 / £0.0099) from KES3.80 ($0.029 / £0.023) per share.

Absa announced an interim dividend of KES0.50 ($0.0038 / £0.0030) per share on Tuesday, up from KES0.20 ($0.0015 / £0.0012) last year. The bank will hand shareholders KES2.72 billion ($20.9 million / £16.5 million) in mid October.

Manambo said the banks are all well above minimum regulatory capital requirements, allowing them to pay higher dividends that support their share prices from a valuation point of view.

In the manufacturing segment, EABL and BAT will make payments of KES6.88 billion ($52.9 million / £41.7 million) and KES1 billion ($7.7 million / £6.1 million) on 31st October and 25th September respectively. EABL announced a final dividend of KES8.70 ($0.067 / £0.053) per share after reporting a record net profit of KES18 billion ($138.5 million / £109.1 million) for the year ended June 2026. BAT is making an interim payout of KES10 ($0.077 / £0.061) per share for the half year to June.

Liberty will pay KES267.9 million ($2.1 million / £1.6 million), Crown Paints KES427.1 million ($3.3 million / £2.6 million), Kapchorua KES469.4 million ($3.6 million / £2.8 million), Car & General KES80.2 million ($617,000 / £486,000) and Williamson KES525.4 million ($4 million / £3.2 million) between 30th August and 30th September. Laptrust Imara I-Reit will distribute KES45 million ($346,000 / £273,000) on 30th September.

As shareholders enjoy higher returns, increased foreign ownership of top firms means 45% of the cash, or KES33 billion ($253.8 million / £200 million), will leave the country and the local economy. Multinational subsidiaries have consistently paid dividends in recent years, making them attractive to foreign investors seeking higher returns from the local market.

In June, South African company Vodacom Group tightened its grip on Safaricom by purchasing an additional 15% stake from the Kenya government for KES204 billion ($1.57 billion / £1.24 billion), taking its controlling stake to 55%. South Africa’s Nedbank is buying a 66% stake in NCBA for about KES110 billion ($846.2 million / £666.7 million) in a deal expected to close by the end of the year. Absa Group has bid for an additional 16.5% stake in its Kenyan unit for KES30.9 billion ($237.7 million / £187.3 million), which, if fully subscribed, will raise its controlling stake to 85%.

The rising foreign ownership has raised concerns about increased repatriation of corporate profits from the economy. Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro said on Monday that the acquisition of larger stakes in banks and Safaricom by foreign entities risks locking out Kenyan investors from the financial benefits of one of the economy’s fastest growing sectors.

Nyoro, a former chairman of the National Assembly Budget and Appropriations Committee, said Kenyan banks are making money and the country must guard against takeovers by international institutions so that the benefits are not handed to others.

By virtue of its larger stake in Safaricom, Vodacom will now bank KES25.3 billion ($194.6 million / £153.3 million) in dividends from the telco, up from KES10.4 billion ($80 million / £63 million) from last year’s payout.

The higher multinational dividend outflows can strain the domestic foreign exchange market as firms buy a larger volume of dollars to repatriate to their parents. It also draws out capital that would have otherwise been invested locally had it been paid to resident investors. Companies with large foreign ownership are also some of the biggest dollar buyers during dividend season for onward payment to external shareholders.