Centum Investment Company has grown its profit for the half year ended September 30 almost 20 times to Sh244 million from Sh12million reported in the same period last year.
The improved company performance was attributable to increased operational efficiencies, nil impairment provisions, and a reduction in finance costs.
Centum Group CEO James Mworia noted that the company did not take up additional debt during the period, and maintained a positive cash position net of debt, cash and the marketable securities portfolio.
Total debt stood at Sh4.2 billion and the gearing ratio at 10 percent as at September 30 2022.
Dividend income for the company increased by 45 per cent during the period.
Even so, the consolidated profit after tax declined by Sh594 million largely driven by unrealized foreign exchange losses arising out of the depreciation of the Kshs relative to the US Dollar and Uganda Shillings.
This saw the firm record a consolidated income loss of Sh1.2billion from a Sh283million loss posted in the same period last year.
The consolidated performance aggregates performance of subsidiaries, associates and joint venture investments across the five business segments in the period.
The business segments include Trading Businesses, Financial Services, Centum Real Estate, Two Rivers and Investment operations.
Centum Real Estate continues to generate strong operating cash flows from sale of development rights and sale of residential units.
The business has to date returned Sh5.2nillion out of a total investment by Centum of Sh7.5billion.
Centum RE in the period signed additional sale contracts of development rights of Sh3.6billion which will help the business make further cash distributions to Centum.
The real estate business has sold 85 percent of the residential units which are either complete or under development. These projects have an embedded and distributable value of Sh4billion when complete.
On the other hand, the Two Rivers Development posted a loss of Sh984.4million in the period from Sh342.3million.
