Centum Investment Company Plc closed its financial year to 31 March 2026 with a debt-free holding company balance sheet and a dividend nearly two and a half times larger than last year.
The Board has proposed a total payout of KES 521 million, made up of an ordinary dividend of KES 0.42 per share and a special dividend of KES 0.36 per share, for a combined KES 0.78 per share.
That step up did not happen by accident. It marks the end of a six-year deleveraging programme the company started in 2020, and the Board says it can now shift its attention from paying down debt to growing recurring income and building shareholder value over the long term.
Company Performance Strengthens
At the company level, where Centum reports as a standalone holding company rather than a consolidated group, results moved firmly in the right direction. Profit before tax jumped 127% to KES 1.2 billion, while profit after tax rose 87.1% to KES 1.02 billion. Net Asset Value per share climbed 3.8% to KES 69.47, and borrowings dropped to zero from KES 690 million a year earlier.
| Company metric | FY2026 | Change YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Investment and other income | KES 1.2 billion | -7.8% |
| Fair value gains on investment property | KES 360.9 million | FY25: nil |
| Finance costs | KES 77.4 million | -61.3% |
| Profit before tax | KES 1.2 billion | +127% |
| Profit after tax | KES 1.02 billion | +87.1% |
| NAV per share | KES 69.47 | +3.8% |
| Borrowings | Nil | FY25: KES 690 million |
Investment operations remained the largest contributor to profitability at company level, supported by dividends and interest income from the portfolio. Finance costs fell sharply because the company had already cleared its holding company debt during the year, which also explains why fair value gains on investment property, absent in FY2025, appeared for the first time this year.
Group Results Show a Mixed Picture
The consolidated Group tells a different story, and a more complicated one. Because Centum consolidates every subsidiary it controls, the Group numbers pick up businesses at various stages of development, some of which are still absorbing construction and finance costs that have not yet turned into income.
Group profit after tax fell 8.5% to KES 743.9 million, and earnings per share slipped 1.4% to KES 2.02. The Group swung from a KES 2.1 billion pre-tax profit in FY2025 to a KES 643 million pre-tax loss in FY2026, largely because two Two Rivers project entities and new development operations posted losses this year.
| Group metric | FY2026 | Change YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Loss from trading businesses | KES -399.7 million | FY25: KES -489.8 million |
| Profit from financial services | KES 33.5 million | -62.9% |
| Profit from real estate investments | KES 200.0 million | -86.8% |
| Loss from Two Rivers Special Economic Zone | KES -964.1 million | FY25: KES 88.4 million profit |
| Loss from development operations | KES -791.6 million | FY25: nil |
| Profit from investment operations | KES 1.5 billion | +28.7% |
| Profit before tax | KES -643.0 million loss | FY25: KES 2.1 billion profit |
| Profit after tax | KES 743.9 million | -8.5% |
| Earnings per share | KES 2.02 | -1.4% |
Trading businesses narrowed their losses, and investment operations grew nearly 29%, both encouraging signs. But the Two Rivers Special Economic Zone recorded a loss of KES 964.1 million, reversing an KES 88.4 million profit the year before, driven by financing costs tied to the deleveraging programme and lower fair value gains than in FY2025. Development operations, a new reporting line this year, added a further KES 791.6 million loss as Centum began recognising costs from projects still under construction.
Management frames the gap between company and Group figures as timing rather than trouble. IFRS accounting recognises fair value movements and construction costs as they happen, while cash from asset sales, loan repayments and dividends often flows to the holding company in a different period. The Board points to the completion of the deleveraging programme, and the post-year listing of the USD denominated Green Income REIT, as evidence that cash generation is catching up with the accounting.
A Dividend Built for the Long Term
The dividend chart tells the clearest story of the year. Ordinary dividends held near KES 210 to 220 million for four straight years before jumping to KES 281 million this year, equal to 30% of annuity income. On top of that, the Board proposed a special dividend of KES 240 million, described as the deleveraging dividend, to mark the completion of the balance sheet restructuring.
Together, the two dividends total KES 521 million, a 2.5 times increase on the prior year’s payout of roughly KES 210 million. Management says the increase does not come at the expense of the Marketable Securities Portfolio, which the company continues to build alongside the higher payout.
Shareholder approval at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting is still required before any dividend goes out.
What Comes Next
Centum enters its 2027 financial year with a debt-free holding company balance sheet for the first time since the deleveraging programme began. The Board says its focus now shifts to three priorities: growing recurring annuity income, funding future value-creating investments, and progressively raising shareholder returns.
The Vipingo Special Economic Zone and TRIFIC have already established institutional investment platforms designed to attract long term third party capital while preserving the flexibility to recycle capital across the portfolio. If that model works as intended, investors may see the gap between Centum’s company level and Group level results begin to close in the years ahead.
