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Robert Kirubi and Mary-Ann Musangi will take about $1.25 million from Centum Investment Company's record dividend, the largest single share of a payout the Kenyan investment group is making even though group profit fell during the year.
Centum declared Sh521 million, about $4.02 million, for the financial year ended March 31. It comprises an ordinary dividend of Sh0.42 a share, totalling Sh281 million, and a special distribution of Sh0.36 a share worth Sh240 million. Nearly half the money is a one-off.
The two inherited their father's 31% stake in Centum, the largest individual holding on the register, after the death of Chris Kirubi in June 2021 at the age of 79. Their share of the distribution comes to roughly Sh161 million, by Billionaires.Africa's calculation.
Group net profit fell 8.4% to Sh743.91 million, roughly $5.74 million, from Sh812.81 million a year earlier.
The dividend is not being paid out of that. Centum said the special distribution follows several investment exits during the year, meaning the cash comes from selling assets rather than from trading.
The company drew a distinction between two sets of numbers to explain the gap. At company level, as opposed to group level, net profit rose 87% to Sh1.02 billion, about $7.88 million, from Sh547.13 million. Centum said consolidated earnings include businesses at different stages of their investment lifecycle and do not always match the cash the holding company actually receives.
That is the essential character of an investment holding company. Group profit reflects the performance of everything Centum owns. Company profit reflects what those holdings send upward as dividends and sale proceeds. Shareholders are paid from the second, not the first.
Chris Kirubi was among the most recognisable businessmen in Kenya, an industrialist and serial investor who held positions in Centum, KCB Group, Haco Industries and Bendor Estate Limited. His estate was valued at about Sh20 billion, roughly $176 million, and his children inherited 80% of it.
The two have remained active rather than passive holders. Both sit behind Centum Real Estate, the group's property development arm, which manages assets worth about Sh40 billion and delivered more than 1,000 homes in 2024. That business listed the first real estate bond on the Nairobi Securities Exchange, raising Sh3 billion.
Centum has spent recent years selling down and reshaping. It cut its shareholding in Sidian Bank to 29.26% after declining to follow a Sh1.9 billion rights issue, and has shifted emphasis toward real estate, private equity and marketable securities. In June it listed the TRIFIC Green USD I-REIT on the Nairobi exchange.
The exits behind the special dividend are consistent with that direction. An investment company that sells assets generates cash it can either redeploy or return, and Centum has chosen to return a substantial portion.
Chief executive James Mworia presented the results at an investor briefing at Two Rivers in Nairobi on Friday, alongside chief operating officer Thomas Omondi, group head of finance Christine Owira and Fred Murimi, managing partner at Centum Capital Partners.
The company did not say when the dividend will be paid or set a record date.
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