Type Public:NSE:MSC Website Homepage Number of employees 1,689 | Products Sugar Founded 1971 | |
 | ||
Industry Manufacture & Marketing of Sugar Headquarters Nairobi & Kakamega County, Kenya Key people Dan Ameyo
Chairman
Coutts Otolo
Managing Director | ||
Mumias Sugar Company Limited is a sugar manufacturing company in Kenya, the largest economy in the East African Community. It is the largest sugar manufacturer in Kenya, producing about 250,000 metric tonnes (42%) of the estimated 600,000 metric tonnes annual national output.
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Location
The company maintains its headquarters in the town of Mumias, in Kakamega County, Western Province of Kenya, near the sugar plantations and factories of the company. Mumias lies approximately 395 kilometres (245 mi), by road, northwest of Nairobi. The company maintains an operations center in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya and the largest city in that country.
Overview
Mumias Sugar Company is primarily engaged in the manufacture and sale of sugar. The company grows some sugar cane; its own estates provide up to 7% of its annual output. Its primary source of sugarcane is over 50,000 registered "out growers" with over 400 square kilometres (99,000 acres) under cultivation. It has also piloted the production of a hybrid high-yielding palm oil variety in areas previously thought too cool for commercial cultivation, in collaboration with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). In addition to sugar, the company co-generates 34 Megawatts of electricity. Some of the electric power is used internally and surplus is sold into the nation electricity grid. The company also manufactures 24 million liters of ethanol annually and 20 million liters of distilled water every year.
History
The company was founded in 1971, with the following shareholding profile: (a) Government of Kenya (71% shareholding) (b) Commonwealth Development Corporation of the United Kingdom (17% shareholding) (c) Kenya Commercial Finance Company (5% shareholding) (d) Booker McConnel (4% shareholding) and (e) East African Development Bank (3% shareholding). The maximum quantity of sugar produced by the company was in 2005, when output amounted to 269,184 metric tonnes.
Ownership
In 2001, the shares of the company were listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange, where they trade under the symbol MSC. The table below illustrates the shareholding in the company as at September 2014.
Governance
Dan Ameyo, one of the non-executive directors, serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors. The Chief Executive Officer is Errol Johnson.
Recent developments
Beginning in 2012, the company began experiencing lowered sugar output and deceased profits, initially blamed on "inefficiency". A forensic audit by the audit firm KPMG, found procedural and financial irregularities which top management had hid from the company's Board of Directors, leading to a loss of over KSh:1 billion (approximately US$12 million), by the company. The developments has led to the firing of 52 top managers, including the CEO, CFO, Commercial Director and Company Secretary. The company has asked the government for KSh2.3 billion (approximately US$26 million) in bail-out funds, of which KSh500 million (approximately US$5.6 million) had been advanced, as of the first week of February 2015. Legal proceedings against the major culprits in the scam have begun.