Kenya Electricity Generating Company PLC (KenGen) will pay a total of Ksh.1.32 billion in dividends to its shareholders for the year ending June 30, 2022. This was after the company posted a Ksh.4.7 billion profit after tax.
It follows approval by shareholders of the KenGen Board’s recommendation for a first and final dividend payment of Ksh.0.20 for the year under review for every ordinary share of Ksh.2.50 at the company’s 70th Annual General Meeting (AGM).
The government, which owns 70 percent of the shares in the NSE-listed company is expected to receive approximately Ksh.924 million in the payout while the rest will go to the private individual and institutional shareholders.
The dividend payout goes to demonstrate KenGen’s strong growth and stability over the years anchored on its geothermal-led strategy and revenue diversification.
Speaking earlier today during the AGM, which was held virtually, General (Rtd) Samson Mwathethe, KenGen Board Chairman, noted that the company’s strong business fundamentals, innovation culture, and robust expansion strategy have continued to propel the company to profitability, thereby growing value for its shareholders year-on-year.
“Our business growth is firmly anchored on our energy generation expansion strategy. In the last financial year, this strategy saw the addition of 86MW Olkaria I Additional Unit 6 into the national grid,” said Mwathethe, adding that “our diversification approach on different areas such as geothermal development also played a huge role in creating more value to our shareholders.”
KenGen is looking forward to adding 305MW geothermal power projects consisting of 280MW from geothermal sources in Olkaria and 25MW from the Eburru geothermal field in the coming years. The construction of these projects will commence after getting the requisite approvals.
Further, the company is rolling out plans to up-rate the turbines for the Olkaria I Additional Units 4 and 5 and Olkaria IV power plants to increase their output by an additional 40MW in a wider plan to further increase Kenya’s energy supply and catalyze the country’s economic growth.
KenGen is also betting on diversification in geothermal consultancy and e-mobility development to drive its financial sustainability in both the current and coming financial years.
Abraham Serem, KenGen’s interim Managing Director, and the Chief Executive Officer reiterated the Company’s 2023 priority focus areas which he said will be on new technologies to generate more electricity using the existing power plants.
“This year, we plan to leverage new technologies to rehabilitate our oldest geothermal power plant whose first unit was commissioned in 1981, the 45MW Olkaria I. This project seeks to give it a new lease of life and increase its generation capacity to about 63MW,” said Serem.
