Kenya’s third largest oil marketer KenolKobil has relinquished its
shareholding in its subsidiaries in Tanzania and Rwanda. PHOTO/FILE
Kenya’s third largest oil marketer KenolKobil has pulled out of
Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo markets, perhaps bringing
to the fore impacts of the global oil glut.
The oil
dealer Wednesday announced its exit from the two markets, leaving it
with the Kenyan subsidiary, where it has twice been relegated from
market leadership to fall behind Vivo Energy and Total Kenya.
A
brief statement sent to the Capital Markets Authority, and copied to
the Nairobi Securities Exchange and the Central Depository and
Settlement Corporation stated the firm’s pull-out without divulging
much.
“We wish to inform the Capital Markets Authority
(CMA) that KenolKobil Limited has relinquished all its shareholding
interests in Kobil Tanzania Limited and KenolKobil Congo SPRL. Owing to
the above said, the two companies shall no longer be subsidiaries of
KenolKobil Limited,” read the statement signed by group managing
director David Ohana.
The oil marketer, whose financial
fortunes have been oscillating between profit and losses, made a
comeback to the positive in its results for the year ending December
2014, despite lower sales.
The group’s net profit in
the period stood at Sh1 billion, compared to Sh558.4 million the year
before. KenolKobil posted yet another net profit of Sh918 million in its
results for the first half of 2015, cementing its stability in the
market.
The results would see the oil dealer award an interim dividend of 10 cents, a gesture coming for the first time in four years.
Yesterday’s
move to pull out of the two subsidiaries, however, casts doubts on its
strong comeback and the group CEO’s opinion on the subsidiaries last
year that pointed to improving fortunes from them.
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