Safaricom PLC shareholders approved a total dividend of KES 2.00 per share for the year ended 31 March 2026 at the company’s Annual General Meeting on Friday, bringing the payout to roughly KES 80.13 billion, the company’s largest to date.
The final dividend of KES 1.15 per share, approved at the virtual meeting, adds to an interim dividend of KES 0.85 per share paid in March 2026. The final dividend will be paid on or about 4 September 2026 to shareholders on the Register of Members as at close of business on 4 August 2026.
“This has been a defining year for us,” said Dr Peter Ndegwa, Group CEO of Safaricom PLC. “We marked 25 years of connecting and driving transformation through our services and community involvement. We did this while delivering our strongest financial performance yet.”
Safaricom’s share price rose 50.3 percent during the financial year, taking the company’s market value to KES 1.10 trillion by 31 March 2026. The market capitalisation has since reached KES 1.44 trillion in the weeks before the AGM.
Dividend Increase Follows Three Flat Years
Safaricom held its dividend at the same level for three consecutive years while it covered the costs of launching operations in Ethiopia and absorbed the effects of the Birr’s depreciation, which followed foreign exchange reforms introduced by the Ethiopian government in 2024. Safaricom Ethiopia is now projected to reach EBITDA breakeven in the coming financial year.
Including this year’s payout, Safaricom shareholders have received approximately KES 280 billion in cumulative dividends over the past five years.
The company said its priorities under Vision 2030 include simplifying customer experience, expanding use of artificial intelligence, extending broadband and 4G and 5G coverage, distributing more affordable smartphones, and continuing to grow M-PESA and related financial services.
Governance Resolutions Reflect Vodacom’s Majority Stake
Shareholders also passed a series of special resolutions amending Safaricom’s Articles of Association to reflect Vodacom Group’s increased shareholding. Vodacom’s stake rose to approximately 55 percent this year after Vodafone Kenya Limited, a wholly owned Vodacom subsidiary, acquired an additional 15 percent stake from the Government of Kenya. The transaction was agreed at KES 34 per share and involved no issuance of new shares, meaning no dilution of minority shareholders.
Following the transaction, the Government of Kenya’s shareholding fell to 20 percent, while the investing public retained the remaining 25 percent.
“We were equally pleased to note the completion of the transaction increasing Vodacom Group’s shareholding in Safaricom this year,” said Adil Khawaja, Chairman of the Board. “It deepens a partnership that goes back to our earliest years, and gives us access to the scale, expertise and regional reach of one of Africa’s leading technology groups as we build towards 2030.”
Safaricom’s Articles of Association contain provisions that activate once a shareholder crosses 50 percent ownership, including the right to nominate the Chief Executive Officer and appoint an alternate director to that position. The resolutions approved at the AGM extend the same alternate director provision to the Chief Financial Officer role, adjust board requisition and quorum rules, and introduce a mechanism for resolving tied board votes. A separate resolution requires 75 percent director approval plus government consent before Safaricom can make material changes to its brand or expand into markets outside Kenya and Ethiopia.
Safaricom’s board stated in the AGM notice that it was taking no position on the special resolutions and made no recommendation on how shareholders should vote.
Other AGM Business
Shareholders re-elected Edward Okaro to the Board and reappointed Ernst & Young as the company’s external auditor. Several additional special resolutions were approved to give legal effect to the revised shareholding structure.
Kenya’s Capital Markets Authority has exempted Vodafone Kenya Limited from a mandatory takeover offer that would ordinarily apply once a shareholder crosses certain ownership thresholds. Commitments made in connection with the ownership change remain in effect, including no job cuts tied to the restructuring, continued local management of the Safaricom and M-PESA Foundations, and a Kenyan board chair.
