Kilembe Investments limited stuck with 100,000 shares

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Kilembe Investments Limited (KIL) is stuck with more than 100,000 of her shares worth more than 1 billion shillings.

KIL is a power distribution company operating within Kasese, Rubirizi and Sheema districts. It was founded in 1997 as a power company limited by shares.

According to Gideon Thembo Mujungu, the Chief Executive Officer Kilembe Investments Limited, the company has not been in position to sell off even half of her capital shares.

Mujungu attributes the inability to sell off the shares to failure by the people within the district to appreciate investing their incomes in capital shares of any company.

“By and large, our people are yet to understand what it means to become a shareholder for a company like KIL. We still need to educate them more so that they can appreciate the value there is.” Mujungu says.

A share at the power company costs a paltry 10,000 shillings but only about 93,000 have been sold off out of the 200,000 shares that the company has placed for purchase.

Mujungu appealed to the people of Kasese and the entire Rwenzori region to interest themselves in purchasing shares from the power company in what he called a sure way of earning money.

However, Joachim Kamalha Kyuma, a resident of Kilembe, Nyamwamba Division of Kasese Municipality argues that KIL has not been in position to attract buyers because the shares produce very minimal dividends.

Kyuma has twenty shares in the power company. He said he has been disappointed with the dividends that accrue from his shares in a space of not less than twelve months.

According to the 2017/2018 financial report released by the power company, KIL made a net profit of 169 million shillings.

Each share earned 1,970 shillings as profit at the end of the year. Kyuma says this is not enough to attract more buyers.

But Mujungu says the company is earning less in profits because they still have little capital. He argues that once the company sells off all her shares, it will involve in more income-generating activities including mini-power generation which will subsequently increase their profits.

Mujungu revealed that the company will not hesitate to list the company on the stock exchange should the natives of Kasese and the region decline to purchase the remaining shares.