Despite the recent sell-off of shares on the Nairobi Stock Exchange by market participants, NCBA Group, a Nairobi-based financial services conglomerate, is one of the few companies on the local bourse whose shares have returned impressive gains to shareholders in recent times.
The surge in the group’s shares over the last 36 days has resulted in a $2.1-million increase in the market value of Andrew Ndegwa’s holdings in the leading financial services group, as investors maintained buying interest after its 2021 earnings figure surpassed analysts’ expectations.
Ndegwa, a business leader and executive director of First Chartered Securities Limited, owns 4.3 percent of NCBA Group, or 70,909,968 ordinary shares.
The million-dollar increase in the value of his stake can be directly attributed to a 15-percent increase in NCBA’s share price on the Nairobi Stock Exchange, from Ksh23 ($0.1995) per share at the start of the stock market on March 2 to Ksh26.45 ($0.2294) at the time of writing this report.
The market value of Ndegwa’s 4.3-percent stake in NCBA has increased by K244.64 million ($2.12 million) as a result of the share price movement, from Ksh1.63 billion ($14.14 million) at the opening 36 days ago to Ksh1.88 billion ($16.27 million) at the time of writing.
The increase in the market value of his stake solidifies his position as one of the richest investors on the Nairobi Stock Exchange, as well as one of Kenya’s wealthiest executives.
The surge in NCBA shares was fueled by the Nairobi-based financial services conglomerate’s strong financial performance at the end of 2021.
The group’s full-year net profit more than doubled from Ksh4.6 billion ($40.1 million) in 2020 to Ksh10.2 billion ($88.9 million) at the end of 2021, thanks to strong performance from its banking, unit trust, and investment banking operations.
As a result of the year’s financial performance, the board recommended paying a final dividend of KSh2.25 ($0.0196) per share, which, when combined with the interim dividend of Ksh0.75 ($0.0065) per share paid on Oct. 12, 2021, brings the total dividend to KSh3 ($0.0261) per share.
