Transcentury CEO Nganga Njiinu makes U-turn retreat on delisting

The leading Kenyan infrastructure firm TransCentury Ltd. (TCL) has canceled plans to delist from the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), where it is planning a rights issue.*

Group CEO Nganga Njiinu said the company will seek shareholder approval to issue 2 billion new shares at five shares for every two at a meeting to be held by June 10, Business Daily reported.

“As you may recall, delisting was to allow us to tap into much-needed funding. However, subsequent to the postponement, we have had shareholders expressing interest in participating in a fundraising process to support TCL’s turnaround,” Njiinu said.

TCL has recorded numerous losses over the previous decade since it listed on the NSE valued at Ksh 12.6 billion ($117.16 million), or about 95 percent of its market value.

Its losses increased to Ksh 3.93 billion ($36.54 million) in 2019 compared to a net profit of Ksh 468.26 million ($ 4.35 million) in 2010 before its NSE listing.

Despite these losses, TLC reported 34-percent revenue growth for the year ending Dec. 31, 2019, driven by strong performance, particularly through two subsidiaries, Tanelec Ltd and AEA Ltd. Hapa Kenya reported that the two subsidiaries registered 56.8-percent and 89.7-percent revenue growth, respectively.

The company reduced its net losses by 12.4 percent during the 2019 financial year on the improved revenue, driven by the performance of Tanelec Ltd and AEA Ltd.

TransCentury

TransCentury is an investment and infrastructure company with three divisions across 14 countries in East, Central and Southern Africa.

Njiinu also sits on the board of East African Cables Ltd. and Civicon Ltd.

*A rights issue is an invitation to existing shareholders to buy additional new shares in a company.