Sameer Africa to Resume Tyre Business as Demand Improves

• Company will run the business under the Yana brand

• Peter Gitonga confirmed  managing Director

Sameer Africa PLC ( SAMR.NR) says it will reinvest in the tyre business renouncing its earlier decision to shut the business.

In its four years strategic plan (FY 2021-2024), the tyre maker says it will run the business under the Yana brand anchored on ‘both the company’s real estate portfolio and its extensive tyre industry experience’.

“The Boards’ decision to return to the tyre business reverses the earlier communicated decision made on 20th April 2020, to exit from the tyre business,” the company said in a cautionary statement on the business strategy. 

“This change has been justified by the sustained demand for the ‘Yana’ brand and the success of the Company’s turnaround efforts in 2020,” it added.

The company says its real estate business will invest in industrial property development in both greenfield projects and value addition to existing properties.

The tyre business will be aligned to the changing customer need, the evolving tyre distribution ecosystem and costs re-alignment.

In executing the new business strategy, the Board has confirmed Peter Gitonga as managing Director, a position he was serving in an acting capacity.

Its revenue reduced by 15 per cent from Ksh 2.07 billion in 2018 to Ksh 1.76 billion in 2019 due to the closure of its retail outlets in the East African region.

The tyre maker company was first incorporated in Kenya in 1969 as Firestone East Africa Limited.

The company’s principal business is the importation and sale of tyres and allied products and the letting of investment property.

They operate primarily in Kenya, with tyre operations in Tanzania, Uganda, and Burundi.

Sameer Africa PLC is 72.15% owned by Sameer Investments Limited, a leading economic force in East Africa with over thirty years’ experience in Kenya’s industrial and economic development.

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