Nakumatt banks on new investor to stem stock outs

Supermarket chain Nakumatt is banking on cash injection from a new strategic investor to address stock outs that have seen its customers take to social media to complain.

Nakumatt has for years now made public plans to invite new shareholders, but has not been successful in sealing any deal yet.

On Friday the retailer said the share sale will be announced “in the coming weeks.”

“This process is on the final critical stages and we hope to publicly make the necessary disclosures in a few weeks,” said Nakumatt in a statement.

Nakumatt is battling to cut back on huge debt owed to suppliers estimated at Sh15 billion as at February 2015, a situation that has been piling pressure on its operations.

But the retailer played down the stock outs at several of its branches insisting its daily operations were “still at an optimum level.”

“Like many other local businesses, we continue to experience what we consider to be a manageable cash flow challenge. The same cannot be described as a crisis as daily operations are still at an optimum level. However, the depressed economic conditions necessitate prudent cash flow management and capitalisation efforts, which will be concluded in a few weeks,” it said.

It linked the stock outs to a technical hitch arising from a change in business management solution adding that a “general market shortage” of key products including dairy products, sugar and Maize flour among others had compounded the problem.