Kenyan multimillionaire banker James Mwangi, who is the managing director and CEO of Equity Group, has suffered a significant setback in the market value of his stake in Equity Group following a sustained decline in its share price on the Nairobi Securities Exchange.
According to data tracked by Billionaires.Africa, the market value of Mwangi’s stake in Equity has declined by Ksh856.3 million ($5.86 million) over the past 43 days.
In recent years, Equity Group has become a dominant force in East and Central Africa under the leadership of its managing director and CEO, James Mwangi, who owns 3.38 percent of the group. Mwangi’s strategic vision has expanded the lender’s operations into multiple countries, including Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
However, since July 25, the shares of Equity Group on the Nairobi Securities Exchange have declined by 14.92 percent, falling from Ksh44.90 ($0.307) to Ksh38.20 ($0.262) at the time of writing.
As a result of the double-digit percent slump in the group’s share price, the market value of Mwangi’s stake in Equity Group has shrunk by Ksh856.32 billion ($5.86 million) over the past 43 days, declining from Ksh5.74 billion ($39.29 million) on July 25 to Ksh4.88 billion ($33.43 million) at the time of writing.
Notably, the recent decline in the group’s shares on the Nairobi Securities Exchange comes despite the conglomerate demonstrating impressive resilience in its financial performance, delivering a single-digit percent increase in profit for the first half of 2023.
According to the recently published financial results, Equity Group, under the leadership of Mwangi, reported a profit of Ksh26.33 billion ($182.8 million) in the first half of its 2023 fiscal year, marking a substantial 7.8-percent surge compared to its profit of Ksh24.43 billion ($169.63 million) during the same period in 2022.
