NAIROBI: Kenya Airways Ltd., sub-Saharan Africa’s third-largest carrier, said it will seek a $200-million loan and sell some of its aircraft after posting a record full-year loss as tourist numbers decline. The stock slumped.
The airline appointed African Export-Import Bank as its financial adviser to raise long-term capital and refinance the business, Chief Executive Officer Mbuvi Ngunze told reporters Thursday in the capital, Nairobi. The company reported a loss of 25.7 billion shillings ($252 million), compared with 3.38 billion shillings a year earlier, as it also faced increased competition and booked an impairment following the sale of some of its Boeing Co. planes, he said.
“Those results are clearly a watershed for KQ and for this country,” Ngunze said, referring to the airline’s marketing code.
Tourism to Kenya has plunged in the past year after attacks by Islamist militants, including a raid in the coastal town of Mpeketoni in June 2014 that left at least 60 people dead. The number of visitors dropped 25 percent to 284,313 in the first five months of the year, according to the Kenya Tourism Board.
The shares dropped 7.4 percent by 9:41 a.m. in Nairobi, bringing its loss this year to 28 percent. That compares with a 6.6 percent decline in the Nairobi Securities Exchange All Share Index over the same period.
