Kenyan businessman Benson Wairegi loses $740,000 as shares in Britam Holdings decline by nearly 10 percent

Kenyan businessman Benson Wairegi has lost Ksh83.1 million ($740,000) from his stake in the Kenya-based financial services holding, Britam Holdings, in the past 89 days.

Wairegi, who stepped down from Britam’s board on May 28 after serving in the company for more than four decades, holds a beneficial 4.02-percent stake in the Kenyan investment holding.

The recent decline in the market value of his stake can be attributed to a fall in Britam’s stock price, as wary investors continued to offload stakes due to uncertainty surrounding the group’s Q3 financial results.

The recent sell-off in the holding’s shares can be linked to a cautionary stance by investors on the material impact of the recent challenges in the insurance industry on earnings, as income from fees and premiums contribute significantly to the group’s earnings.

The forward-looking expectations of investors align with how COVID-19-induced disruptions exposed multiple lines of insurance assets and investments to emerging risks and uncertainty in the insurance industry.

As a result of this bearish sentiment, Britam’s share price fell from Ksh8.38 ($0.0748) on Aug. 18 to Ksh7.56 ($0.0674) as of the time of writing, accruing a total loss of 9.8 percent for shareholders, including Wairegi, who holds a total of 101,356,300 ordinary shares in the holding.

As a result, the market value of the shares held by the former executive fell from Ksh849.37 million ($7.58 million) to Ksh766.25 million ($6.84 million).

This translates to a Ksh83.1-million ($740,000) loss for the Kenyan businessman in nearly three months.

At the end of the first half of its 2021 financial year, Britam recorded a profit of Ksh376.3 million ($3.36 million) compared to the loss of Ksh1.63 billion ($14.54 million) that was recorded in the first half of 2020.