Companies

Limuru Tea recruits new chief executive

tea

Workers pick tea in an estate in Nandi. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE)-listed agricultural firm Limuru Tea #ticker:LIMT has appointed Gerridina Johanna Maria Ten Den as its new chief executive, taking over from Nicholaos Yiannakis who has resigned after 19 months at the helm.

The new CEO comes amid depressed earnings in the sector due to a drop in sales volume that offset the benefits realised from improved prices in the market.

Mr Yiannakis joined the firm in June 2017 after he was tapped from Unilever Tea Tanzania, where he was the managing director.

“We wish to inform you of the resignation of Nicholaos Yiannakis as the chief executive officer and director of Limuru Tea Plc. Gerridina Johanna Maria Ten Den has been appointed as the chief executive officer and director to the board of Limuru Tea Plc,” said Limuru Tea company secretary Alison Kariuki.

The new CEO will also be tasked with taking on labour issues facing multinational tea firms amid an ongoing row with Kenyan workers demanding higher wages.

A three-week strike the unions called last November crippled operations and led to losses of close to a billion shillings for tea firms, including Limuru Tea, James Finlay, Unilever Tea Ltd, Sasini and Williamson Tea.

A drop in sales volumes led Limuru Tea deeper into the red after it posted an after-tax loss of Sh22.13 million in 2017 from Sh19.07 million the previous year. Limuru Tea reported a total revenue drop of 23 per cent to Sh80 million in 2017 from Sh104 million in 2016.

It is expected that the firm's 2018 financial results will also be depressed following lower earnings from its peers in the industry. This is after Williamson Tea Kenya and its affiliate Kapchorua Tea sunk into half-year losses for the period to September 2018 on depressed tea prices and high operating expenses.

Williamson posted a Sh85 million net loss, down from previous year’s profit of Sh43.4 million. Meanwhile, Kapchorua Tea’s after-tax loss widened more than five times to Sh76.5 million from last year’s loss of Sh14.5 million. The losses by the Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed growers were booked despite increased tea production due to favourable weather conditions that lifted their turnovers.