The NSE began 2026 with broad index gains led by banking stocks, even as equity turnover declined and foreign investors turned net sellers.
Bond market activity rose sharply, and valuations remained supportive, pointing to rotation rather than exhaustion after a strong 2025.
Koko Fuel Shuts Down After Carbon Credit Row
Koko Networks, a Kenyan clean-cooking startup backed by international investors and development finance institutions, has shut down operations and laid off its entire workforce
Kenya's Stock Market Closes January Higher as Turnover Jumps and Foreign Inflows Return
The NSE closed the final week of January 2026 higher, with indices advancing and turnover rising 39% to KSh 4.45bn.
Trading remained concentrated in large caps, while foreign investors returned to net buying with a KSh 506.8m inflow, reversing last week’s outflows.
Starlink Rival Spacecoin Explores Anti-Censorship Partnership to Bypass Internet Blackouts
Spacecoin, a U.S space startup building a decentralized internet network, has partnered with the Midnight Foundation to explore the development of a private peer-to-peer messaging application
How a Family Network Allegedly Siphoned KSh 22 Million From National Oil Firm
Prosecutors have charged a former National Oil Corporation of Kenya (NOCK) employee, her husband, and an associate over an alleged KSh 22.15 million fraud.
EABL's Interim Dividend Jumps 167% as Brewer Posts 38% Rise in Profit
East African Breweries reported a 38% rise in interim profit for the six months to December 2025 as revenue climbed 11% to a record 75.5 Bn.
Volume grew 8%, expenses stayed flat, and lower finance costs lifted margins. Cash strengthened to 17.7 Bn, total debt fell to 37 Bn, and leverage improved to 0.5x EBITDA.
The board declared an interim dividend of 4.00 per share, up 167% year on year, even as management flagged weak consumer spending and rising illicit alcohol penetration.
Umeme Issues Fresh Profit Warning as Arbitration With Uganda Continues
Umeme has issued a second profit warning in just over three months, confirming it expects to post a full-year loss for 2025 after its 20-year electricity distribution concession in Uganda expired in March.
The warning, released on 29 January 2026, follows an earlier interim-based notice and reflects the cessation of operating revenue after Q1 2025.
With operations ended, investor focus has shifted to a London arbitration with the Ugandan government over disputed post-concession compensation, including a buyout audited at US$118.4 million (KSh 15.3 billion).
Rebranding Plans Tanked Stanbic-NCBA Merger, Insiders Say
Standard Bank subsidiary Stanbic Bank's insistence on rebranding NCBA may have been the final nail on the coffin in the long-running merger negotiations,
Kenya's Largest Banks Split on KESONIA vs CBR in Loan Pricing
Kenya’s largest banks are taking different paths under the Central Bank of Kenya’s revised risk-based credit pricing framework.
KCB issued its notice a day earlier, opting to retain the Central Bank Rate as the reference for repricing existing variable-rate loans, a stance later mirrored by Equity Bank and Diamond Trust Bank.
Co-operative Bank moved in a different direction, adopting KESONIA as its reference rate.
The split exposes uneven adoption of CBK’s push toward market-based loan pricing ahead of the February 2026 transition.
From Collapse to Control: The Evolution of Bank Mergers & Acquisitions in Kenya
Kenya’s banking sector has consolidated repeatedly over the past four decades through a mix of failure, regulation, and strategic takeovers.
From the 1989 state-led rescue that created Consolidated Bank to the regional expansion wave of the 2010s and foreign-led acquisitions in the mid-2020s, mergers and acquisitions have been the system’s primary correction mechanism.
What began as crisis containment evolved into scale-driven growth and, more recently, a contest over ownership and control, with foreign capital increasingly shaping governance and strategy across the sector.
Mombasa Port's Cargo Boom Masks Congestion Strain as Tanzania Elections Rewire Trade Routes
growth is now stretching port capacity, as congestion pressures collide with post-election trade realignments following Tanzania’s polls late last year.
"We Should Not Take IMF Programs Wholesale" -Controller of Budget
Kenya’s renewed engagement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) risks tipping fiscal consolidation into damaging austerity unless social spending and budget credibility are protected