Kenyan businessman Benson Wairegi’s stake in Britam Holding gains $545,000

Kenyan businessman Benson Wairegi’s stake in Britam Holding Plc has risen by $545,000 in 49 days.

Wairegi is Kenya’s longest-serving CEO of a listed company.

Shares in Britam Holding cleared $0.0625 (Ksh6.74) per share on April 30. However, sustained buying interest in the company’s shares among bargain hunters pushed the market up to $0.0679 (Ksh7.32) per share as of press time, 1:50 pm (UTC+1), June 18.

The 8.6-percent increase in the market value of Britam’s ordinary shares has returned gains for the company’s equity holders who are optimistic about its financial performance in 2021 despite its bland financial performance for 2020.

Britam Holding, one of the leading diversified financial services groups in Kenya and East Africa, made a loss of $90 million (Ksh9.7 billion) in 2020.

Its unimpressive performance for 2020 was due to a fair valuation loss of $21 million (Ksh2.3 billion) triggered by poor equity performance of its investment in HF Group Plc, and another $18.5 million (Ksh2.0 billion) related to property impairments.

To maximize its earnings power in 2021 and optimize costs in the coming years, Britam Holdings trimmed its management team from 20 to 11 members.

The company also has plans to cut up to 15 percent of its workforce and offload its 48-percent stake in HF Group, which is valued at $5.89 million (Ksh646 million), in the coming months.

In line with this move, Wairegi stepped down from Britam’s board on May 28 after serving in the company for more than four decades.

Before his retirement on Jan. 21, Wairegi had an equity stake of about 4.02 percent in Britam.

The recent rise in the price of the company’s shares has seen his stake in the company increase from $6.336 million (Ksh683.14 million) on April 30 to $6.881 million (Ksh 741.93 million) as of press time, 1:50 pm (UTC+1), June 18.

This translates to a market-value loss of $545,000 (Ksh58.79 million) for the retired bank executive.