Business Quest 
Centum Investment Chief Executive Officer James Mworia. The payout is a 77 per cent increase compared to the Sh219 million paid in the previous year./Photo/Centum Investments Ltd/
Centum Investments is planning to buy three local companies in a Sh. 5 billion investment drive. The NSE-listed firm says that it is already in advanced talks to acquire the three companies. In addition to the three companies, Centum will also acquire an additional two companies in the neighbouring region. The acquisitions will be done through its subsidiary, Centum Capital Partners.
“We are building a promising pipeline of deals, we’re in talks with a number of investee targets that we hope to conclude in the coming months. Three of the targeted firms are based in Kenya while two are in neighbouring countries,” Fred Murimi, Managing Partner of Centum Capital Partners, said in a statement.
The acquisition will come following a string of sales that saw Centum exit numerous companies where it held stake. These businesses included Almasi Beverages, UAP Insurance, and Kenya Wine Agencies Limited
Currently, Centum has a portfolio worth an estimated Sh. 9 billion that is spread across East Africa in firms such as Longhorn Publishers, Isuzu East Africa, Nas Servair, and Sidian Bank.
In July 2021, Centum Investment Group posted the first full year loss in over 40 years. The company posted a net loss of Sh. 1.37 billion in the full year ended March 2021.
This was drop from the Sh. 4.63 billion net profit which the firm posted in the previous year. During the financial year, Centum’s investments and businesses posted operating losses. Operating profit fell from Sh. 8.2 billion to a Sh. 1.86 billion loss. Among Centum’s affected businesses was the Two Rivers Development Group.
In the previous year, Centum booked Sh. 12.4 billion one-off gain from disposal of beverage assets. However, in the year ended March 2021, no such gain was realized. Centum also booked a Sh. 4.2 billion revaluation losses, further hurting the bottom-line. “A significant contributor to the revaluation losses is the increase in deferred tax liabilities of Centum Real Estate subsidiaries which impacted the valuations of the real estate portfolio company,” Centum said in a statement.
