Kenyan businessman Andrew Ndegwa gains $1.4 million in three weeks from stake in NCBA Group

Omokolade Ajayi -

Kenyan businessman and serial investor Andrew Ndegwa has recorded gains of $1.4 million in three weeks from his stake in the leading financial services group, NCBA Group, as shares in the group retreated after dropping to a nine-month low.

NCBA Group is a Nairobi-based financial services conglomerate functioning as a non-operating holding through its broad network of subsidiaries in Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda and Cote d’Ivoire.

Ndegwa, who is a successful businessman and the executive director of First Chartered Securities Limited, holds a 4.3-percent stake in the group. Aside from his business interests in NCBA, the Kenyan businessman is also a non-executive director in the tier-1 lender.

The recent surge in the group’s share price can be linked to renewed investor buying interest in its shares, as bargain hunters accumulated stakes in companies with impressive upside potential.

The bullish bias spurred the lender’s stock price to rise above the Ksh25 mark recently. The surge in the NCBA share price can also be linked to the Ksh6.53-billion ($58.01 million) earnings tha the company posted in the first nine months of 2021, as earnings increased by 159 percent.

The group’s profits in the first nine months of 2021 surpassed the Ksh2.52 billion ($22.4 million) that it posted in the corresponding period of 2021 by Ksh4.01 billion ($35.6 million) thanks to strong underlying performance across all areas of its business and a slowly improving economy.

As a result, NCBA shares surged from a price of Ksh15.5 ($0.2046) on Dec. 7 to Ksh25.45 ($0.0314) on Dec. 28. This led to a nearly 10-percent gain for shareholders in 21 days.

Research conducted by Billionaires.Africa revealed that the market value of his stake increased from Ksh1.64 billion ($14.51 million) to Ksh1.8 billion ($15.95 million) between Dec. 7 and 28.

The movement in the market value of his stake led to a Ksh163.1-million ($1.44 million) value bump for the multimillionaire businessman in just 21 days.

Despite the recent gain, the market value of Ndegwa’s stake has decreased by almost five percent, or $815,000, since the year began.