Umeme Limited shareholders have endorsed the board’s decision not to declare a final dividend for the financial year ended December 31, 2025, while approving a raft of resolutions as the company continues navigating life after the expiry of its 20-year electricity distribution concession.
The resolutions were passed at the company’s hybrid Annual General Meeting held on August 21 and announced in a post AGM notice issued on Monday, with shareholders also approving the audited 2025 financial statements, reappointing Ernst & Young as external auditors for 2026 and returning Patrick Bitature to the board as a Non-Executive Director.
The decision not to declare a final dividend follows a turbulent financial year in which Umeme posted a net loss of Shs223.6 billion, a sharp reversal from previous years after its electricity distribution concession ended on March 31, 2025. The company had already paid an interim dividend after receiving the undisputed portion of its buyout compensation from the Government.
In its communication to shareholders, Umeme said the company remains focused on recovering the outstanding balance of its buyout claim through the ongoing dispute resolution process.
“The Company continues to actively pursue its outstanding claims against the Government of Uganda through the ongoing dispute resolution process,” the board said.
The company has maintained that while it received about US$118 million as the undisputed portion of the buyout amount, a substantial balance remains outstanding, prompting arbitration proceedings before the London Court of International Arbitration.
The AGM also reaffirmed shareholder confidence in the company’s governance by re electing Bitature to the board after his retirement by rotation and renewing Ernst & Young’s appointment as external auditors for the 2026 financial year.
The resolutions come at a defining moment for Umeme, which has been reshaping its business model since handing over Uganda’s electricity distribution network to Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Limited. During the first three months of 2025, when it was still operating the network, the company generated about Shs530 billion in revenue, significantly lower than the Shs2.3 trillion recorded in the previous year when it managed the network for the entire year.
In its latest annual report and updates shared through its official digital platforms, Umeme said recovering shareholder value remains its immediate priority while positioning the company for new opportunities across Africa’s energy sector.
Bitature said the board was taking a cautious approach to future investments, insisting that capital would only be committed to projects capable of delivering returns that exceed simply distributing the money to shareholders.
The company is exploring opportunities in electricity distribution, renewable energy, energy advisory services and infrastructure project management, with Sierra Leone identified among the markets under consideration.
Although its concession has ended, Umeme says the expertise developed over two decades remains one of its strongest assets. During that period, the company expanded Uganda’s electricity distribution network from about 16,000 kilometres to more than 42,000 kilometres, increased customer connections from roughly 290,000 to 2.2 million, reduced energy losses from 38 percent to 16 percent, and improved revenue collection to 99 percent before transferring the network to UEDCL.
Following the transition, the company has significantly reduced its workforce, with most former employees moving to UEDCL, leaving a lean team focused on arbitration, regulatory obligations and identifying new business opportunities that could shape Umeme’s next chapter.
