Eveready East Africa closes struggling Nakuru factory

Corporate News

Eveready is facing cut-throat competition from cheap battery imports mostly from China. FILE 

By VICTOR JUMA

In Summary

• Eveready East Africa has closed its Nakuru dry cell factory, opting to source batteries from Egypt.
• The cost-cutting move will see the company retrench 99 employees later this week, managers say.

Battery distributor Eveready East Africa has closed its Nakuru dry cell manufacturing factory, opting to source batteries from its affiliate in Egypt.

The move will see the company retrench 99 employees later this week. Eveready says an influx of cheaper and illegal imports has hurt operations at the Nakuru plant, making it economically unviable.

The factory has been running at 25 per cent of its capacity.

“We are shifting our focus from manufacturing to distribution, which is now our core business,” said Jackson Mutua, Eveready’s managing director.

He added that the move to import all batteries from Energizer Egypt will eliminate costs of running the Nakuru plant besides boosting the firm’s competitiveness in terms of pricing.