Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) has reported its financial results for the year ended 30 June 2018 with profit after tax declining massively by 63.67% to Sh 1.98 Billion compared to Sh 5.28 Billion in the previous year. Profit before tax fell by 59.7% to Sh 3.09 Billion against the previous period’s profit of Sh 7.66 Billion.
The listed company had earlier this month issued a profit warning and a notice on the delay in publication of the financial results.
In a statement sent through the exchange, KPLC says the drop was mainly attributed to “increased transmission and distribution costs” which increased by 14.1% to Sh 39.6 Billion from Sh 34.7 Billion recorded in 2017.
Kenya Power’s total revenue for the period increased slightly to Sh 125.8 Billion from Sh 120.7 Billion with non-fuel revenue at Sh 95.5 Billion. Total power purchase costs increased from Sh 80.5 Billion to Sh 84.1 Billion.
Finance costs increased by 29.3% to Sh 7.8 Billion on the back of short-term borrowings to bridge cash flow short falls.
In July 2018, the company appointed an interim senior management team to run the company pending hearing and conclusion of ongoing corruption allegation cases against previous senior executives facing graft allegations amounting to more than Sh 4.5 Billion.
The company’s board did not recommend the payment of dividend to shareholders. In the previous year, the company had declared a dividend of Sh 0.50 per share.
Share Price
On 21st November, KPLC’s share price touched an all-time low of Sh 3.55 having lost more than 55% of its value over the last one year.
