Investors at Safaricom will earn Sh390 million less on March 15 this year compared to Sh0.58 per share they received a year ago.
In a disclosure notice to the Capital Markets Authority (CMA), the telco which commands close to 50 percent of total tradings at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) said a total of Sh23.03 billion will be paid down from Sh23.4 billion.
Safaricom will pay an interim dividend of Sh23.42 billion or Sh0.58 per share to shareholders.
"The Board of Safaricom PLC is pleased to announce that at its meeting that was held on 21st February 2024, it was resolved to approve the payment of an interim dividend of Sh0.55 per ordinary share held amounting to Sh23.03 billion,'' the notice from the board reads.
It adds that the interim dividend will be payable to shareholders on the register of members as at the close of business on March 15, 2024, and will be paid on or about March 31, 2024.
Safaricom has had a bad run in the past two years despite expanding to Ethiopia.
Last year, it posted a 22.2 percent decline in net profit for the full year ended March 2023, the third consecutive drop in earnings on heavy capital investments in Ethiopia.
Profitability stood at Sh52.48 billion, down from Sh67.49 billion posted in the previous period.
The telco's share has also been on a downward spiral for almost two years now, dropping over 45 per cent in the past 12 months.
At its peak in mid-2021, when its share price touched an all-time high of Sh44.95, Safaricom accounted for up to 63 per cent of the NSE’s total investor wealth after defying the Covid-19 storm that battered stocks at the market.
Crossing the 50 per cent threshold meant that Safaricom’s market worth exceeded the combined valuation of all the other listed companies.
It now accounts for 48 per cent of total trading at the Nairobi bourse.
