East African Portland Cement Company (EAPC), was directed by Kenyan lawmakers on Tuesday to repurchase its shares from Swiss Multinational Holcim. This parliamentary instruction came after Holcim sought to exit and agreed to sell 29.2% of its shareholding, which is equivalent to KES 25.4 million, to a Tanzanian investor Edhah Abdallah Munif, for KES. 27 per share which rounds up to a total of KES 718.7 million. The value of the sale raised eyebrows as it notably underrated EAPC`s stock which closed at KES 56 per share on Monday at the Nairobi Securities Exchange.
Moreover, the parliamentary committee on trade, industry and cooperatives raised a concern from existing shareholders saying that the move to sell to the new investor denied them an opportunity to also buy the shares.
EAPC Financial Performance.
EAPC`s latest performance shows a significant turnaround of KES 35 million half year profit for the six months ended in December 2024. The company also realized an outstanding increase in revenue from its sales to KES 3.2 billion from KES 1.8 billion in the previous year, which consequently enabled the company to pay its first dividend after 13 years.
Additionally, EAPC achieved a net profit of KES 1.07 billion for year 2023-24, which was a great shift from major loss-making periods.
