Mumias to cut wages as water plant reopens

Mumias Sugar Company #ticker:MSC plans to revive its stalled water bottling venture by year-end, after shutting down in 2015, and cut salaries of its employees.

Chief executive officer Nashon Aseka said the management is working on an operation that will cut on overheads and maximise on profits as it seeks to diversify revenue.

Mr Aseka said under the previous arrangement, the plant could not make profit as recurrent expenditure was high making Mumias-made Sprinkle water relatively expensive in the market.

“Plans are underway to revive the plant; we are working on a structure that will not be costly as before, which made it difficult for the facility to generate profit,” said Mr Aseka.

He said employees were previously paid more money than necessary, pointing out Mumias is going to review the salaries.

READ: Mumias Sugar, Kenya Power in deal to restart electricity supply

The struggling miller is fighting to revert to profitability following years of huge losses attributed to mismanagement.

Mumias is also reviving other revenue streams discontinued due to operational challenges.

It has just resumed production of ethanol after close to six months discontinuation on lack of molasses to process. The distillery has a bigger capacity compared with the amount of molasses it produces.

Mumias has been relying on imported molasses to make ethanol but abandoned the imports in July due to high cost.