Kakuzi PLC has announced a Kshs 171.1 (EUR1.1 million) half-year profit of a million pretax due to poor trading conditions due to the current worldwide macadamia shortage.

The company, which has recently changed its corporate branding, has seen a greater than a double increase in profits over the export of avocados that posted Kshs 654.8 million boost which was up from Kshs 288.6 million reported earlier in the year.

In his announcement of his half-year figures, Kakuzi PLC Managing Director Chris Flowers said the firm’s bottom line was impacted due to the Kshs 329 million deficit from its Macadamia company.

To prevent further losses within further losses in the Macadamia Business, Kakuzi, says, is looking at a value-addition approach which will involve the company selling the product locally.

“The worldwide macadamia shortage is still affecting all major international exporters, including Kenya, Australia and South Africa. To reduce the loss the company has adopted an approach to local marketing aimed to supplying value-added macadamia-based products such as prepared-to-eat macadamia nuts, macadamia flour and cold-pressed oils,” Flowers said.

As the Macadamia industry declined but Kakuzi’s Avocado sales increased, and exports to Europe as well as China reaching their peak. A further increase in business for avocados is anticipated in the second quarter as exports to Malaysia as well as India are beginning to remove.

In announcing the company’s growth plan, Chairman Mr. Nick Ng’ang’a stated that “At Kakuzi, we are determined to implement the shared prosperity model of business which prioritizes all of our stakeholders’ demands. Growing our business sustainably and actively implementing Kakuzi’s Kakuzi, Community Partnerships, taking environmental action, and applying top practices in everything activities we undertake to further promote our core values is our priority.”

In addition to the other lines of business, Kakuzi has expressed confidence regarding its Blueberry venture’s future.

“Although the blueberry production is considerably lower than those of Avocado as well as Macadamia outputs, our revenue streams remain within our goals of the business plan and motivates additional investment. Beyond that, the results of forestry, tea livestock, arable land management are still playing a vital part in the portfolio of our crops,” Said Mr Ng’ang’a.

In the last month, the company officially launched the new brand identity of its corporate that demonstrates its commitment towards the improvement of agricultural production for market for export and domestic.

The brand’s new Kakuzi brand aligns with the national transformation of agriculture agenda. It is based on sustainable agriculture and climate smart farming at the heart of it.

The brand’s new Kakuzi branding, the company’s first clearly defined branding visual system and a strategy for over 95 years, is also an evolution to the modern food industry that is growing in both export and domestic market, based on a strategic choice to focus on the cultivation of such food items.

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Kakuzi PLC

P.O. Box 24 Thika 01000

Tel. : +254 722 205895

Tel. : +254 722 205896

mail@kakuzi.co.ke

kakuzi.co.ke

Source: The Plantations International Agroforestry Group of Companies