BOC Hikes Dividends by 60% as 5-Year Profit Growth Streak Ends

BOC Kenya’s net profit fell 39.8% to KSh 100.4 million in the first half of 2026 as the industrial and medical gases producer cycled out of customer engineering projects that powered record earnings last year, while rising fuel, energy and inflation costs pushed overheads higher.

• Revenue declined 17.2% to KSh 600 million from KSh 725 million, while profit before tax fell 37.4% to KSh 157.6 million.
• Overheads increased 17.3% to KSh 190.8 million, with management attributing the increase to inflationary pressures and higher fuel and energy costs.
• The decline followed BOC’s strongest year on record in 2025, when annual profit after tax rose 48.4% to KSh 314 million and revenue increased 18.5% to KSh 1.43 billion.

Growth that year was supported by customer engineering projects and increased demand for medical and industrial gases, while cost controls lowered distribution, selling and administrative expenses.

The 2026 reversal also ended five consecutive years of first-half profit growth. BOC’s H1 profit had risen from KSh 14.6 million in 2020 to KSh 38.3 million in 2021, KSh 39.1 million in 2022, KSh 50.4 million in 2023, KSh 61.8 million in 2024 and KSh 166.7 million in 2025. Despite the latest decline, H1 2026 profit remained above every comparable first-half result between 2017 and 2024.

Cash generation strengthened even as earnings declined. Cash generated from operations rose 38.9% to KSh 291.6 million, while net operating cash flow increased 40.3% to KSh 236.3 million. Cash and cash equivalents at the end of June reached KSh 1.29 billion, up 49.9% from KSh 863 million a year earlier and the highest June balance in the company’s available historical series.

The stronger liquidity supported a higher shareholder distribution. BOC raised its interim dividend 60% to KSh 4.00 per share from KSh 2.50, the highest interim payout in the series reviewed. It follows a record KSh 12.85 total dividend for FY2025, comprising the KSh 2.50 interim payment and a KSh 10.35 final dividend.

BOC said its transition toward greater focus on its core business started more slowly than expected during the first half but was gaining momentum in the second half. The company expects accelerated execution of the strategy to support revenue growth and improve earnings quality while partially offsetting the absence of the engineering projects completed in 2025.

The company has been targeting growth in medical gases alongside manufacturing, agriculture and fabrication, as it seeks to broaden recurring demand beyond project-based revenue.