Cross-listed Ugandan electricity distributor Umeme (NSE:UMME, USE:UMEM) has raised its dividend by 22.4 percent as the company enters the final year of a 20-year concession from the Uganda government.

Nigerian top lender, Access Bank Plc, will pay KCB Group about Sh13.2 billion to acquire National Bank of Kenya (NBK), even as the lender announced an eight per cent decline in its net profit on higher operating costs.

Co-operative Bank of Kenya has posted a 5.2 percent growth in net profit to Sh23.2 billion in the financial year ended December 2023 on increased income and reduced operating costs.

Tier-one bank stocks have added Sh12.1 billion in market value at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) over the past one week on rising demand as investors jostle for the higher dividends the lenders are announcing for the year ended December 2023.