Uchumi Supermarkets share price has nearly tripled in 13 days of trading on the Nairobi bourse on increased speculators' interest after news that the struggling retailer had posted a rare profit of Sh8.8 million for the year ended June 2025.
The debt-ridden firm is currently prioritising the settlement of claims from creditors but its return to profitability has been interpreted by some as a signal of a turnaround.
On Thursday, the share jumped above Sh1 at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) for the first time in seven years, marking a near tripling from Sh0.38 on November 11 when news filtered to the market that the retailer had posted first profit in years. The last time the share was above a shilling was September 25, 2018 at Sh1.05.
Management accounts disclosed under the company voluntary arrangement (CVA) showed Uchumi’s Sh8.8 million net profit was from a loss of Sh49.7 million disclosed in the audited accounts for the year ended June 2024.
The share closed Thursday trading at Sh1.02, marking a 2.7 times rise in price over the 12 days of trading since Business Daily broke the news of the rare profit.
The company is now valued at Sh372.26 million compared to Sh58.39 million at the start of the year.
“There have been plenty of bids but very few offers. There is extraordinary demand for Uchumi shares on the back of a large proportion of retail investment investors wanting to jump on to the aggressive triple digit markups after the profitability and recovery story of Uchumi,” said Ronny Chokaa, senior research analyst at Capital A Investment Bank.
The latest price means that the share has gained 437.5 percent since the year started when it was trading at Sh0.16.
The gain ranks Uchumi second on the NSE in terms of year-to-date performance after Sameer, which has gained 463.8 percent.
The stock has attracted renewed investor interest, consistently ranking among the top five gainers daily since November 11, with gains ranging from 5.3 percent to 10 percent.
This marks a departure from November 10 when it was the top losing stock, shedding 7.7 percent on that day.
The traded volumes for Uchumi shares have surged from just about 2.87 million shares over 13 trading days ended November 10 to over 9.75 million shares in a comparable period between November 11 and November 27.
“It is difficult to tell how long the rally will last. Uchumi hasn’t been releasing the official statements of accounts which is one hurdle that prevents efficiency in price discovery and how to approach it on a fundamental basis. Their retained earnings are in the negative and it will take a while for them to get out of it,” said Mr Chokaa.
Uchumi’s biggest boost came from rental income, which jumped nearly fivefold to Sh62.7 million from Sh13.5 million, largely driven by China Square — the low-cost household goods retailer that leased Uchumi’s Lang’ata Hyper branch effective June 2024.
The CVA report shows the review period saw sales revenue rise to Sh123.01 million in the year ended June 2025 from Sh65.4 million in the previous financial year.
Currently, Uchumi has 11 tenants paying it monthly rental income of Sh5.94 million. China Square pays Sh5 million or 84.1 percent of Uchumi’s monthly rent collections, followed by Paris Lounge Grill (Sh300,000), Isle Garden (Sh212,155), Sudo Liquor Store (Sh114,223) and Spatial Barberz (Sh64,655).
