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Lewis Njoka @LewisNjoka

Limuru Tea, a publicly listed company at the Nairobi Securities Exchange, has announced a pre-tax loss of Sh11 million in the first half of 2020 despite posting a 72 per cent increase in revenue over the same period.

The company said in a statement that the performance was an improvement compared to Sh26 million loss it posted last year and attributed the reduction in loss to top line growth and effective cost management initiatives.

“Total revenues increased by 72 per cent to Sh50 million in the period compared to Sh29 million realised in the same period of 2019.

Higher sales volumes

This increase in the first half of 2020 was driven by higher sales volumes which offset the adverse impact of declining market prices,” said Limuru Tea Chairman Richard Korir.

Over the same period, the company produced 2,172 tons of green leaf, which was manufactured into 458 tons of black tea, a 72 per cent increase in made tea volumes compared to the first half of 2019.

Korir said the depressed market prices continue to pose a risk to the business performance adding that management will continue to focus on volume growth, cost management and other strategic initiatives to mitigate the market impact.

The company posted a pre-tax profit of Sh3 million for the year ended 31st December 2019 compared to Sh3.7 million posted the previous year.