Companies

Nakumatt Mega most profitable of ailing store’s branches

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Nakumatt Mega. PHOTO | DIANA NGILA

Nakumatt Mega, which is located on Uhuru Highway in Nairobi, is the retail chain’s most profitable outlet.

It is followed by Nakumatt Junction and Ngong Road branches, which make the top three outlets in terms of sales, an audit report on the supermarket has revealed.

Nakumatt Mega branch posted revenues of Sh12.7 billion in the three years to February 2017, according to the audit report prepared by administrator of the financially troubled retailer Peter Kahi.

The Junction Mall, from which Nakumatt was kicked out and replaced by French retailer Carrefour, registered sales of Sh11.5 billion during the period under review.

The retailer’s Ngong Road branch made Sh10 billion in the three years while Village Market and Galleria outlets posted revenues of Sh8.4 billion and Sh7.3 billion respectively.

Other well-performing branches during this period were TRM (Sh6.5 billion), Nyali (Sh5.9 billion), Likoni (Sh5.7 billion) and Karen, which posted sales of Sh4.9 billion in the 36 months.

“Revenue grew from Sh40.4 billion in 2013 to a peak of Sh52.2 billion in 2017, an average growth of seven per cent year-on-year,” the report, which was presented to Nakumatt’s creditors on March 14, states.

READ: Audit reveals Nakumatt suffered Sh18bn fraud

Mr Kahi’s report offers a rare and in-depth peek into the historical performance of Nakumatt which, by virtue of being a privately-held company, is not obligated to publicise its financials.

The retailer, which at its peak had about 53 branches in Kenya, however, saw sales drop by 66 per cent to Sh14.8 billion in the 10 months to December “as a result of branch closures and reduced sales in all branches due to reduced stock supplies”.

Nakumatt, once the regional industry giant, now operates 17 outlets but the administrator says he expects to secure another six stores that were taken over by landlords “in breach of court orders.”