TransCentury lays foundation for future

African Infrastructure Company, TransCentury Group, has announced its three-year growth strategy.

The plan, which is largely driven by its Power Division's capacity expansion programme, Engineering Division's strong and well-balanced pipeline of projects and the newly established Infrastructure Division, is expected to will see the firm expand into power generation and annuity/toll road projects, among others.

Speaking when he confirmed the group's trading results, Chief Executive Officer Gachao Kiuna said the firm had already embarked on its growth strategy and had signed a Power Purchasing Agreement with Kenya Power for geothermal power generation in Menengai.

The group recorded a revenue of Sh10.2 billion and a net loss of Sh2.3 billion in 2014.

It said the financial performance was partly affected by a 36 per cent drop in the revenue of the Engineering Division due to a number of delayed projects, which have since commenced in the first quarter of this year.

The sale of the stake in RVR significantly contributed to the loss. The Group through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Safari Rail Company Ltd ("Safari Rail"), disposed of its entire 34 per cent shareholding in KU Railways Holdings Ltd ("KURH") on March 31, 2014 by exercising a PUT Option as this investment failed to meet return targets set by the group.

The group realised $43.7 million (Sh3.8 billion) from the sale, which saw it recover its entire cash investment in RVR.

"The funds have been redeployed towards debt reduction and growth capital in our existing Power and Engineering Divisions," said Mr Gachao.