The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) has increased its shareholding in top companies in Kenya that are listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange.
According to NSSF’s audited financial statement for June 2020/2021, they have purchased more shares in top banks in Kenya such as Absa Bank Kenya, Diamond Trust Bank Kenya Limited, I & M Holdings Limited, CFC Stanbic (Kenya) Holdings and Co-operative Bank of Kenya Limited.
For instance, NSSF got Shs 8.2b dividend payment from Stanbic Uganda Kenya, Shs7b from Dfcu limited Kenya and Shs8.4b from Vodacom. Others include National Microfinance Bank (Shs4.9b) and Kenya Commercial Bank (Shs 4.2b), among other dividend income sources.
Kenya’s Safaricom fetched Shs 16.7b for NSSF, CRDB Tanzania Limited (Shs6.6b) and Twiga Limited (Shs5.6b). The equity securities, externally managed by the fund, grew from Shs87.6b to Shs104b, representing a 19% growth.
“We have seen a recovery especially in the Nairobi Securities Exchange, which saw a growth of about 26%, Uganda was a margin of 1.9% and the Tanzania stock exchange delivered a growth of 4.8%,” Mr Richard Byarugaba, the NSSF managing director, said during the annual members’ meeting recently.
Recently, NSSF announced that its income for the 2020/21 Financial Year increased by 25 per cent from Shs1.4 trillion to Shs1.8 trillion, despite the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The fund declared an impressive return to members of 12.15% in the FY 2020/2021, resulting in Shs1,516b compared to 10.75% in FY 2019/2020, which resulted in sh1,154b.
NSSF commands one of the largest investment portfolios in Uganda with 78 percent invested in fixed income while 15 per cent is invested in equities and 7 per cent in real estate.
