Financial services group Britam Holdings has sunk into a Sh1 billion net loss for 2015 weighed down by poor performance of the Nairobi Securities Exchange that hit its equity assets.
The company which had in 2014 made a net profit of Sh2.5 billion said a downturn in the performance of the securities market led to a loss of Sh2.8 billion last year on its financial assets at fair value compared to a gain of Sh4.1 billion in the previous year.
Britam Holdings is among 18 other listed firms in Kenya that had issued a profit warning for the 2015 trading period. In 2014, only 11 companies had issued profit warnings, a pointer to the tough environment companies faced last year.
Data from the NSE shows investors lost Sh250 billion last year as a result of the market's bear run compared to 2014. The value of their wealth as measured by market capitalisation dropped to Sh2.05 trillion in 2015 from Sh2.30 trillion a year before, the end-year statistics by the NSE indicate.
Despite the poor returns from its equity investments, Britam recorded a 38 per cent rise in revenue to Sh20.3 billion from Sh14.7 billion in 2014. Revenue from insurance business grew by 40 per cent to Sh19.6 billion from Sh14 billion previously.
Income from property investments increased by 31 per cent to Sh4.6 billion from Sh3.5 billion. The holding company's assets rose by seven per cent to a total value of Sh77.6 billion.
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