Equity Group Managing Director and CEO Dr. James Mwangi, one of the wealthiest individuals on Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) has seen his stake in the lender surge by Ksh.492.07 million ($3.04 million) in January 2024 — driven by renewed investors’ interest evident in the uptick in the lender’s market capitalization.
According to the latest data from the NSE, Equity Group shares have increased from Ksh.33.65 ($0.208) on January 1 to Ksh.37.5 ($0.232) as of January 30 — returning an 11.44 % gain to shareholders and pushing the group’s market capitalization above $870 million.
This means the market value of Dr. Mwangi’s stake in Equity Group, which stands at 3.38 percent or 127,809,180 ordinary shares, has risen from Ksh.4.3 billion ($26.55 million) on January 1 to Ksh4.79 billion ($29.59 million) at the time of reporting — an increase of Ksh492.07 million ($3.04 million) in less than a month.
Dr. Mwangi, one of the richest bankers in Kenya, has been at the helm of Equity Group since 2004, when he transformed the former building society into a fully-fledged commercial bank.
The Group has grown to become one of the largest and most profitable banks in the region, with operations in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
It has diversified its portfolio to include insurance, fintech, and social impact investments, as well as expanding its digital and intelligent platform that allows customers to access its services on multiple devices and channels.
Equity Group’s impressive performance has been attributed to its customer-centric approach, innovation, and resilience.
In its latest financial results, Equity Group reported a 14-percentage growth in its net profit for the nine months ended September 30, 2023, to Ksh.17.5 billion ($108.2 million), compared to Ksh.15.4 billion ($95.2 million) in the same period in 2022.
The group also increased its total assets by 27% to Ksh.1.015 trillion ($6.27 billion), making it the first bank in Kenya to cross the trillion-shilling mark.
Equity Group’s strong performance has also been reflected in its share price, which has outperformed the NSE 20-Share Index, which tracks the performance of the 20 most liquid stocks on the bourse.
The NSE 20-Share Index has declined by 3.7 percent since the start of the year, from 1,821.77 points on January 1 to 1,754.3
2 points on January 30.
