KQ shareholders question board over loss-making streak
What you need to know:
The company made history last week after reporting a Sh10 billion loss for six months through to September citing insecurity in the country as well as the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa.
The company’s stock at the bourse closed Friday’s trading at Sh8.60, 42 per cent lower than its 52-week high of Sh14.70 recorded in November last year.
The board of Kenya Airways was put to task to explain why the company has been on a loss-making streak despite continuous promises to turnaround its performance.
Shareholders attending the company’s 38th annual general meeting on Friday, said they were frustrated by the firm’s failure to return profits which has led to a fall in share price at the Nairobi Securities Exchange.
The company made history last week after reporting a Sh10 billion loss for six months through to September citing insecurity in the country as well as the outbreak of Ebola in west Africa.
Management said that regional insecurity had resulted in low passenger numbers in the wake of travel advisories issued by a number of western countries while the Ebola epidemic forced it to discontinue flights to Sierra Leone and Liberia.
But in the poorly attended meeting at the Bomas of Kenya, shareholders demanded an elaborate explanation on why the company’s purported exit of the loss-making territory only left it deeper in the red.
“We have come here every time over the last few years and all you keep giving is excuse after excuse for your failure to deliver good results. Now we are stuck with a stock that is a hard sell at the Exchange since the company is just reporting losses. You must tell us now when we will report a profit and earn dividend,” a shareholder asked during the plenary.
Another one said that KQ had turned from being the pride of Africa, the airline’s commercial tagline, to being the ‘shame’ of Africa.
