Kapchorua's tea production grew 44.5 percent to 8.69 million kilogrammes in the year ended March attributed to the expansion of its factory.
The listed agricultural plantation firm recorded an increase in total tea produced from 6.01 million kilogrammes (kgs) the year before, consisting of own-grown and bought leaves.
Own-grown tea grew from 1.73 million kilogrammes to 2.2 million kilogrammes while green tea leaves bought from smallholder farmers rose to 6.48 million kilogrammes from 4.27 million kilogrammes.
The company had planned to expand the factory capacity whilst optimising the workforce into two shifts to achieve more tea produced.
"The factory expansion concluded and reported on last year has enabled Kapchorua to purchase significantly more green leaf from smallholder farmers than in previous years resulting in a record crop for the farm," said Kapchorua in the 2024 annual report.
"This is a significant achievement and a notable success in the first year of expanded operations."
Kapchorua reported in the last financial year that it had completed the expansion of its factory with more withering space, an additional processing line and expanded sorting and packaging areas.
The firm said that the additional processing would allow Kapchorua to take more green leaf during the heavy cropping months rather than limiting intakes to previous capacities benefiting the farmers and the company.
Kapchorua reported a profit for the year ended March of Sh399.4 million from Sh314.5 million in the year before.
Revenue from tea sold stood at Sh2.19 billion against Sh1.7 billion posted in the previous year.
Improved production, coupled with a weaker shilling last year helped Kapchorua book higher revenue in the year to March 2024 despite challenges at the auction.
From the 8.69 million kilogrammes of tea produced, Kapchorua sold 7.316 million, implying that 1.375 million kgs were unsold in the year ended March.
The company decried the backlog at the Mombasa tea auction leaving tea unsold. The Mombasa auction runs on a two-day format where secondary-grade quality tea is sold on Mondays and premium-grade ones on Tuesdays.
Any tea that is not sold on a scheduled auction day is reprinted on a fresh auction catalogue and returned to the auction two weeks later. A seller can only bring back unsold crops to the auction twice.
The company declared a final dividend of Sh15 per share paid on September 2, which when added to the interim dividend of Sh10 per share paid out earlier, brings the total dividend paid to Sh25 per share.
