Haco Tiger Brands Directors (l-r) Ian Isdale, Dr Chris Kirubi, Peter Matlare, Polycarp Igathe and Cyrus Kamau after Thursday’s press conference.
NAIROBI, Kenya, May 28 – Haco Tiger Brands says the company remains solid despite recent challenges occasioned by unprofessional conduct by a section of management.
Chairman Dr Chris Kirubi says this does not in any way affect the strength of the company going and gave assurance to clients and customers.
Speaking during a press conference on Thursday at the Haco headquarters in Nairobi, Dr Kirubi said the company has a strong strategy that will seal all the loopholes that may put the company’s image at stake.
“The biggest investment we have in the business is the people… our staff. So it’s not an easy thing even when we lose one person. We value the staff who work for us, they are the only value we have in this business, money we can get anywhere,” Kirubi said.
A section of the management led by the now fired CEO Geoffrey Kiarie, had been involved in adjusting profits which reflected negatively on the overall earnings of Tiger Brands Group in South Africa in the half-year period ending March 2015.
The management was also involved in pre-invoicing which affected the overall performance.
But Kirubi, who co-owns the company with Tiger Brands of South Africa, says the hitch has since been corrected and that this will not have negative impact on the business.
“Although there was the issue of pre-invoicing, we as Haco did not lose even one shilling. Even though they had shown that closing the year that they had performed, they had not delivered goods to the customers. But subsequently in the new month, all those goods have been delivered and those invoicing have now been reversed and made legitimate,” Dr Kirubi explained.
Dr Kirubi owns 49 percent of the Kenyan operations, while the Johannesburg listed company controls the remaining 51 percent.
Tiger Brands CEO Peter Matlare who travelled to Kenya to add his voice in setting the record straight said the group will continue to work closely with their Kenyan partner.
“If the foundation is weak then we would have lots of problems. But Haco is a strong company with a solid foundation. The business is sound because you got strong investors between ourselves and Dr Kirubi. And so, we have real confidence in the future. We will get through this blemish,” Matlare assured.
He says going forward, Tiger is focused on how to strengthen is markets not only in Kenya but its other foot prints.
Apart from Kenya and South Africa, Tiger Brands has a presence in Cameroon, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe.
“We continue to look for new products and what we want to do is to see products manufactured in Kenya and not simply import stuff from elsewhere. So we have to continue looking for those opportunities.
