Nairobi Business Ventures PLC (NBV) has issued a profit warning for the financial year ended 31 March 2026, cautioning that total earnings will fall by at least 25% compared to the year ended 31 March 2025.
- •The warning adds NBV to a growing list of NSE-listed companies that have flagged sharp earnings declines over the past 12 months.
- •At least 13 companies have issued profit warnings in that period, spanning insurance, aviation, advertising, tea, utilities, and retail.
- •CIC Insurance, Liberty Kenya Holdings, WPP Scangroup, Kenya Airways, Standard Chartered Bank Kenya, Centum Investment, Umeme, and Williamson Tea are among those that preceded NBV in issuing alerts.
NBV is a diversified commercial group operating across three segments: automobile servicing and heavy truck maintenance through its Delta Automobile Limited subsidiary, aircraft maintenance through Air Direct Connect, and a trading division dealing in industrial and chemical products. The company also holds approximately 28 acres of land whose intended use for a cement manufacturing project has been shelved pending financing, with management now exploring real estate development as an alternative.
The company's financial trajectory over the past three years has been uneven. In FY2024, NBV posted a profit after tax of KSh 17.8 million, up 107% from KSh 8.6 million in FY2023, driven by strong trading division revenues from sodium silicate products. In FY2025, group revenue dropped 37% to KSh 508.0 million from KSh 809.8 million, as trading revenue collapsed 88% to KSh 48.9 million. Profit after tax fell 11% to KSh 32.2 million, cushioned largely by other income of KSh 155.0 million that offset a 64% jump in administrative expenses.
The first half of FY2026 offered little relief with trading sales falling to KSh 137.5 million from KSh 280.5 million in the prior period, and the group posted a post-tax loss of KSh 78.3 million for the six months ended September 2025. Management noted the trading division had temporarily paused operations to limit further losses, while the truck maintenance division continued to face high operating costs and reduced revenues. The aviation division provided a partial offset, delivering what management described as reasonable performance.
