Foreign exchange gain propels Trans Century to Ksh 1B profit

Kenya’s Trans Century Limited has recorded a Ksh 1 billion pretax profit in the first half of 2016 from a loss of Ksh 646 million in the same period the year before.

The company said in a statement that its net finance costs fell to 202.2 million shillings from 496.96 million shillings.

According to Trans Century’s statement, “the profit has been attributed to lower finance costs and foreign exchange gain following the recovery of regional currencies against the US Dollar.”

Trans Century is an Infrastructure Company listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), mainly focuses on electrical equipment and engineering work with three operating divisions across 14 countries in East, Central and Southern Africa.

Trans Century’s earnings per share rose to 4.97 shillings from a loss of 2.16 shillings per share in the same period in 2015.

“The group is poised to report improved performance the second half of the year with a growing order book in the power division,” read the statement.

A private equity firm, Kuramo Capital, has proposed to buy investment firm’s shares at a large premium to the market value to make it the single largest investor in the company.

The resolution if passed could see Kuramo emerge with a 25 per cent stake in the company as existing shareholders are diluted by the same margin.

Report by Ephraim Mugo