KENYA – Listed Miller Unga Group Limited has notified shareholders that it will hold its 96th Annual General Meeting virtually on 7th December 2023.
Among other activities, Unga shareholders are expected to elect new directors during the AGM.
The company noted that during the directors’ elections, Andrew Ndegwa, Shilpa Haria, and Wangari Murugu who have been serving the Group as directors are still eligible for re-election.
The three directors together with Vitalis Ojode, and Ciru Miringu are also seeking to continue serving as members of the Board Audit and Risk Committee.
The company is hoping for a rebound in the agricultural sector in 2023 to recover its fortunes after surviving several fronts including the Russian-Ukraine crisis and foreign exchange scarcity, high manufacturing costs, and well as severe competition from a string of emerging smaller millers.
In the financial year ended 30th June 2023, Unga Group posted a KES 959.3 million (UD$6.6M) loss for the year that ended June 30, 2023, attributing the dip to a depreciation of the Kenyan shilling and constrained access to foreign exchange.
The financial dip reverses a profit of KES 311.3 million (US$2.1M) posted in the preceding 12-month period to June 2022, which included gains from the transfer of business assets.
Despite Unga’s profit erosion, the grain and feed miller posted revenue growth of 33% driven by high prices of raw materials and finished goods.
The current share price of Unga Group is KES 15.20. It closed its last trading day on Thursday, November 16, 2023, at KES 15.20 per share on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).
It began the year with a share price of KES 32.00 but has since lost 52.5% off that price valuation, ranking it 62nd on the NSE in terms of year-to-date performance.
The company, however, is betting on the implementation of its new strategic plan, which includes putting out quality products to the market to turn around its fortunes.
Recently the company re-launched its Amana range of consumer foods in a bid to capture a larger share of the local packaged consumer staple foods market.
During the re-launch, the group added premium sugar to the offerings, stating that soon they will include pasta, progressively introduced to the local market.
According to Unga, the expansion is part of a KES 521 million (US$3.6M) three-year market repositioning project by the firm pursuing a comprehensive food strategy to boost its corporate value and return on investment for its shareholders with a diversified portfolio of value-added products.
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