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Paul Wanderi Ndung'u has spent the past year in a bruising legal fight over SportPesa, the betting company he helped found. A quieter bet has done far better. The Kenyan tycoon's stake in Car & General, the Nairobi-listed motorcycle and financing group, has ballooned in value as the stock staged one of the biggest rallies on the exchange.
Car & General shares have surged roughly 885% over the past year, climbing from KSh 26.40 to a record KSh 260 as the company moved from losses to record profits. Ndung'u, the largest identifiable individual holder among the top 10 shareholders, owns about 6.42 million shares, a stake of roughly 8%. On paper, that holding is now worth about KSh 1.67 billion, up from around KSh 169.5 million a year ago, a gain of close to KSh 1.5 billion assuming his position is unchanged.
The re-rating followed a sharp operational turnaround. After sinking to a KSh 273 million loss in its 2023 financial year, the group returned to profit the following year and then accelerated. In the six months to June, revenue rose 30% to KSh 15.64 billion and profit after tax jumped 308.8% to a record KSh 2.60 billion, lifting earnings per share to KSh 32.26 from KSh 7.93.
Much of the momentum runs through Watu, the asset-financing associate that has become one of the group's main earnings engines. Watu's profit contribution climbed 382.3% to KSh 2.04 billion, about 71% of Car & General's pretax profit, built on motorcycle and mobile-phone financing and expansion into markets including Rwanda and South Africa. Core sales grew across East Africa, and Kenyan motorcycle volumes rose to an average of 12,000 units a month from 7,000 a year earlier.
The company is spreading its bets further. Its helmet-making arm has turned profitable and begun exporting, and the group is investing in electric, gas and compressed-natural-gas two- and three-wheelers as it positions for a shift in how the region moves. The board has also lifted its interim dividend to KSh 1.00 a share, worth about KSh 6.42 million to Ndung'u on top of the revaluation of his stake.
Ndung'u's wealth remains measured in the millions of dollars rather than the billions, but the Car & General run is a reminder that his quieter market positions can move as much as his headline disputes. The paper gain is real, even if converting it would test the stock's thin free float.
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