Diversified manufacturer and distributor Flame Tree Group Holdings reported a net loss of KSh 15.9Mn for the full year ended 31 December 2025, a sharp narrowing from what the Group's April profit warning had implied.
- •Improved margins and disciplined cost management offset the absence of a one-off insurance accrual that had inflated 2024 earnings.
- •Revenue grew 1.5% to KSh 4.23Bn, driven by an 8% expansion in the Water, Sanitation and Packaging division, home to its Roto Tanks and Jojo Plastics brands, and 5.1% growth in FMCG, which encompasses cosmetics labels Zoe, Alana Skin, Cerro and Siora, snacks brands Happy's and Chirag, and construction and hardware trading under Buildmart.
- •The Group operates across Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Mauritius, and maintains a procurement office in the UAE, employing 1,197 people as of the last reported count.
"Our FY2025 results demonstrate the resilience and strength of our underlying business," said CEO Heril Bangera. "We achieved strong EBITDA growth, improved margins, reduced losses, and expanded our asset base significantly."
Gross margin widened to 37.8% from 34.9%, the highest in at least 13 years and a recovery from a low of 24.2% in 2022 when raw material cost pressures and currency weakness compressed the business sharply. Cost of sales fell 2.9% to KSh 2.63Bn. EBITDA rose 18% to KSh 384.5Mn on a like-for-like basis, excluding the KSh 293.6Mn insurance accrual that had propped up 2024.
Finance costs declined 9.3% to KSh 307.0Mn, though interest expense still exceeded operating profit of KSh 233.4Mn, leaving a pre-tax loss of KSh 73.6Mn. A deferred tax credit of KSh 57.7Mn reduced the final loss to KSh 15.9Mn.
The balance sheet strengthened with net assets rising 25.2% to KSh 1.53Bn, supported by a KSh 344.8Mn property revaluation. Operating cash flow turned positive at KSh 157.2Mn, reversing a KSh 219.9Mn outflow in 2024. Yet total borrowings stood at KSh 1.32Bn with bank overdrafts of KSh 470.0Mn, giving gross debt of approximately KSh 1.79Bn against cash of KSh 57.9Mn.
Since listing on the NSE's Growth Enterprise Market Segment in November 2014 at KSh 8.00 per share, FTGH has lost 71% of its value, trading at KSh 2.30 on results day. Revenue has grown 2.4 times since listing, yet the Group has posted net losses in three of the past four years.
The profitable years have largely depended on non-cash items: property revaluations in 2019 and 2022, and the contested insurance accrual in 2024. Underlying earnings, stripped of one-offs, have rarely covered the cost of the Group's debt.
FTGH surged 22.34% on the results release, though the move came on just 75 deals, a thin-volume relief rally on a counter with a market capitalization of about KSh 312Mn.
