NSSF Buys an Extra 18.8 Million Shares from KCB

National Social Security Fund (NSSF) purchased an extra 18.8 million shares worth KES 703 million in listed tier-one lender KCB Group, the latest in a series of incremental purchases In the third quarter of this year.

According to KCB’s regulatory ownership records, the NSSF increased its ownership in the bank to 291.35 million shares at the end of September, corresponding to a 9.07 percent interest, up from 8.48 percent in June.

According to the lender’s latest share price of KES 37.4 per unit, the holding is now worth KES 10.9 billion, up from KES 10.19 billion in June.

In March 2019, NSSF held a 6.12 percent holding in the KCB, which has been increasing through the purchase of additional shares and the transfer of its previous stake in the National Bank of Kenya (NBK) into shares of the country’s second-largest lender.

Due to the enormous volume of shares held in the two companies, the bank, along with Safaricom, is the pension fund’s largest source of dividend income.

According to the fund’s most recent audited financials, KCB and Safaricom earned dividends of KES 265.7 million and KES 337.7 million over the time.

NSSF had earned KES 773.6 million in KCB dividends and KES 962 million from Safaricom a year earlier, with the 2021 drop caused by several corporations preferring to limit or forego dividend payouts to conserve money during the Covid-19 outbreak.

This year, KCB paid its stockholders a total dividend of KES 3 per share for the fiscal year ending December 2021, rewarding NSSF with more than KES 800 million for its holding in the lender.