KENYA – The board of directors of Sameer Africa Plc has announced it’s decsion to return to the tyre businesses after one year break, the company has disclosed in a public statement.

The decison was announce after the board approved a four-year strategic plan which is set on a well-defined growth strategy anchored on both the company’s real estate portfolio and its extensive tyre industry experience.

The decision to return to tyre business reverses the earlier communicated decision made on 20th April 2020 to exit from the tyre business.

According to the tyre manufacturer, the change has been justified by the sustained demand for its Yana brand and the success of the company’s turnaround efforts in 2020.

Under the plan, real estate business will continue to invest in industrial property development in both greenfield projects and value addition to existing properties while the tyre business will be aligned to the changing consumer needs, the evolving tyre distribution ecosystem and cost realignments.

Both businesses are expected to be profitable during the period.

“The change has been justified by the sustained demand for its Yana brand tyres and the success of the company’s turnaround efforts in 2020”

Sameer Africa PLC is a public limited company first incorporated in Kenya in 1969 as Firestone East Africa Limited.

The company’s principal business is the importation and sale of tyres and allied products and the letting of investment property.

The company operate primarily in Kenya, with tyre operations in Tanzania, Uganda, and Burundi.

Sameer Africa PLC is 72.15% owned by Sameer Investments Limited, a leading economic force in East Africa with over thirty years’ experience in Kenya’s industrial and economic development.

In January 2020, issued a noticed on its decision to close various tyre centres and offices across Kenya and declared its employees redundant as the firm struggled even after its change of strategy in 2016 when it stopped local manufacturing of its key tyre brand Yana and opted to outsource to Asia.

At that time, Sameer widened its net loss 15.8 times to US$1.68 million in the first six months of 2019, with stock-outs and counterfeit products complicating its recovery effort.

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