By Kakuzi PLC, a Kenyan agricultural producer, said on Tuesday it expects full-year net earnings to fall by at least 25% from 2025, after a slump in avocado and macadamia sales dragged down its half-year profit.
The Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed company issued the profit warning alongside unaudited results for the six months to June 30, 2026, citing dry weather on its farms late last year and softer international demand for macadamia.
Kakuzi’s pre-tax profit for the first half of 2026 fell to 10.4 million Kenyan shillings ($80,600), from 435.2 million shillings a year earlier, the company said in a statement signed by Chairman Nicholas Ng’ang’a.
Half-year profit for the period dropped to 7.1 million shillings from 295.5 million shillings, while earnings per share fell to 0.36 shillings from 15.08 shillings, according to the results.
Sales for the six-month period declined to 1.12 billion shillings from 1.55 billion shillings in the same period of 2025, the company reported.
Kakuzi said the global avocado market was well supplied in the first half of 2026, putting pressure on prices, particularly in the second quarter. A significantly lower crop from its own orchards and disrupted shipping routes further weighed on returns.
Half-year operating profit from avocado fell to 215.9 million shillings from 394.9 million shillings a year earlier, the company said.
The macadamia market softened sharply because of rising global supply and weaker demand, Kakuzi said. Half-year operating profit from macadamia dropped to 68.2 million shillings from 318.8 million shillings.
Kakuzi said geopolitical instability had disrupted key shipping routes into Europe over the year to date, adding to the pressure from a smaller avocado crop and reduced macadamia demand.
Not all of Kakuzi’s business lines weakened. Blueberry operations extended a run of profitable growth, with half-year operating profit rising to 15.1 million shillings from 13.4 million shillings, despite added freight costs the company linked to conflict in the Middle East.
Forestry operating profit rose to 73.3 million shillings from 42.9 million shillings, which Kakuzi attributed to continued strong demand for poles.
The company said its tea and livestock businesses performed in line with expectations, with a slight strengthening in the tea market.
Kakuzi’s directors said they would not recommend payment of an interim dividend, the results showed.
Cash and cash equivalents fell to 274.6 million shillings at the end of June 2026, from 890.3 million shillings a year earlier, as net cash used in operating activities rose to 739.7 million shillings from 11.9 million shillings.
Total equity stood at 5.28 billion shillings as of June 30, 2026, down from 5.57 billion shillings at the end of December 2025, according to the company’s statement of financial position.
In a separate notice, Kakuzi said the profit warning was issued under Paragraph 14.5.7 of the Thirteenth Schedule to Kenya’s Capital Markets (Public Offers, Listing and Disclosures) Regulations, 2023, which requires listed companies to alert investors to material shifts in expected earnings.
The company said the warning was based on trading information, market forecasts and the unaudited half-year results, together with other data available to its board.
Kakuzi said exceptionally dry conditions on its farms at the end of 2025, combined with a softer international macadamia market, were expected to continue weighing on results for the rest of the year.
“Our strategic priorities remain unchanged in substance, even as the operating conditions in which we pursue them continue to shift,” the company said in the statement, adding that it would keep investing in avocado and macadamia production as existing orchards mature, while diversifying into new crops and geographic markets.
Ng’ang’a said the company believed a long-term approach, diversification and disciplined execution would allow it to withstand short-term shocks from markets, weather and geopolitics while continuing to build shareholder value.
Kakuzi, majority-owned by Britain’s Camellia Plc, grows avocados, macadamia, blueberries, tea and forestry products on farms in central Kenya and is one of the country’s largest agricultural exporters.
