KENYA – Limuru Tea Plc, Kenyan company and subsidiary of Unilever Tea Kenya Limited, announced the appointment of Gerradina Johanna Marria Ten Den as the new Chief Executive Officer, effective 1st march 2019.
This follows the resignation of Nicholaos Yiannakis, from this position in the company after one and a half years since his appointment.
Gerradina has over 28 years in Unilever and was the immediate former Procurement Director Tea-Africa apart from serving roles in marketing and procurement in Netherlands, Switzerland and Kenya.
She has a wide experience in the tea industry where she has in the past participated in the transformation of the tea procurement organisation into a resilient strategic partner.
Gerradina has also pioneered increase in efficiencies in tea logistics and procurement, expanding the supplier base in Africa by closely working on sustainable sourcing and increasing product quality.
According to the firm, Gerridina’s main role as the CEO is to manage risk and corporate reputation by ensuring that she appears for approval by the board, implementing and managing Limuru Tea Plc risk management approach.
The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE)-listed firm reported a total revenue drop of 23% to Sh80 million in 2017 from Sh104 million in 2016.
This translated into the company plunging deeper into losses after posting an after-tax loss of Sh22.1 million in the 2017 full year results as compared to Sh19 million loss the previous year.
Founded in 1895, the Company engages in the growing of green leaf tea owns 275 hectares of tea.
Unilever Tea Kenya Limited, is the major shareholder with a 52% stake of the issued share capital of Limuru Tea and acts as the company’s managing agent in the growing, manufacturing, sales and marketing of its teas.
The tea estate green leaf is manufactured in the Unilever Tea Kenya Mabroukie factory from where it is sold mainly for export.
In 2017, the firm produced 2,039,613 kilos of green leaf, a 35% decrease due to prolonged drought in the East of Rift Valley where the firm is located.
Limuru Tea Plc faces competition from other private owned entities operating in the tea sector which include Williamson Tea Kenya, Kapchorua Tea and Sasini limited.
