Centum Investment Company PLC has closed its share buyback programme after three years of active repurchases across two phases, acquiring a combined 10,839,300 ordinary shares that will be retained as treasury stock, reducing the company's freely tradable float on the Nairobi Securities Exchange to 644,753,114 shares.
- •The programme, which commenced in February 2023, was originally designed to claw back up to 10% of Centum's issued share capital, equivalent to approximately 66.54 million shares.
- •At the time, management argued the stock was trading at a deep discount to intrinsic value, with net assets per share standing at KSh 63.00 as of September 2024 against a market price that had been averaging KSh 8.73 during the first phase.
- •The stock's appreciation, while frustrating for the buyback programme, is consistent with the valuation recovery management had been targeting through debt reduction and portfolio rationalisation, including the March 2026 exit from Sidian Bank.
The first buyback tranche ran from February 2023 to September 2024, with a maximum offer price of KSh 9.03 per share. Centum acquired 10,688,500 shares during that period, representing roughly 14.8% of the original target of 66.54 million shares. Having fallen short of its objective, the company sought shareholder and regulatory approval at its Annual General Meeting on 30 September 2024 to extend the programme under revised terms.
The second phase opened on 1 October 2024, with the maximum buyback price raised to KSh 9.51 per share, a 10% premium on the preceding 30-day weighted average price of KSh 8.64. The extension was scheduled to run until 31 March 2026. However, the stock began appreciating almost immediately after the announcement, trading above KSh 9.40 by the time the second phase formally opened and crossing above the KSh 9.51 ceiling by December 2024. With the share price consistently trading above the repurchase threshold, the second phase yielded only 150,800 additional shares, or 0.23% of the 65.56 million share target for that tranche.
The buyback ultimately closed at the 31 March 2026 programme end date, with total acquisitions of 10.84 million shares across both phases, well below the 10% target. All acquired shares are to be held as treasury shares in accordance with Part XVI, Section 447 of the Companies Act, 2015.
The programme's limited reach in its second phase reflects a broader shift in Centum's market standing. The company has been reducing leverage, with outstanding borrowings falling to KSh 440 million by late 2025 from KSh 690 million in March of that year, and net asset value per share climbing to KSh 68.75 by March 2025.
