Kenyan banker Gideon Muriuki's Co-op Bank lifts nine-month profit 27% to $211 million

Co-operative Bank of Kenya Ltd., the lender run by veteran banker Gideon Muriuki for a quarter of a century, increased its nine-month profit by 27% and raised its interim dividend by half, sending its shares higher in Nairobi.

Net profit for the nine months through September rose to KSh27.43 billion ($211.2 million) from KSh21.6 billion ($166.3 million) a year earlier, the Nairobi-listed bank said in results released on Nov. 12. The board raised the interim dividend by 50% from last year's KSh1 a share, a payout of about KSh8.8 billion ($67.7 million) to shareholders.

Lending drives the gain

Muriuki, the group's managing director and chief executive, attributed the growth to an expanding balance sheet and stronger lending. He said the bank was making progress under its 2025 to 2029 "Good to Great" strategy and its "Soaring Eagle" transformation program.

The higher dividend extends a practice the bank started only last year, when it paid its first interim dividend after reporting a KSh21.6 billion nine-month profit.

Cooperative owners collect most of the cash

Most of the payout goes to Co-op Holdings Co-operative Society Ltd., the vehicle through which Kenya's cooperative movement owns a controlling stake in the bank. Individual retail investors, who hold the balance of the shares, share the rest.

Muriuki joined the bank in 1996 and became managing director in 2001, when it was loss-making and weighed down by bad loans. He oversaw its listing on the Nairobi Securities Exchange in 2008 and its growth into one of Kenya's largest lenders, with subsidiaries in insurance, asset management and banking in South Sudan.

Figures were converted at KSh129.9 to the dollar.