NSE issues profit warning on tough economic conditions

The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) announced Friday that its net earnings for the year ending 31 December 2019 will decline by more than 25 percent, citing challenges that include tough economic conditions.

The self-listed company that posted a Sh190 million net profit in 2018 – a 12 percent decline from the Sh216 million profit in 2017 – decried a poor market performance in the first nine months of the year, which saw the NSE 20-Share Index dropping to a 10-year low.

“The performance of the company in 2019 was adversely affected by a challenging economic environment and reduced inflow of capital from global frontier market investors” the company said in its profit warning notice.

The NSE’s share price closed Friday’s trading at Sh11.10 down from Sh12 a week earlier, representing a 7.5 percent reduction in its value.

The firm joins a growing list of companies that have recently issued profit warnings for the year, among them industrial gas manufacturer BOC Kenya #ticker:BOC, UAP Holdings Limited, and Kenya Power #ticker:KPLC.