Kenyan retailer Uchumi sees year profit up 25 pct

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan Uchumi Supermarkets expects a 25 percent rise in profit for its year to June, during which it saw shopper numbers rise 25 percent to 16.2 million.

Chief executive Jonathan Ciano said on Thursday profit should rise by the same rate as the growth in customer numbers, which boosted sales by 2 billion shillings.

Uchumi made a 2007-08 profit of 106 million shillings.

Economists sometimes use retail figures, along with cement sales and mobile phone usage, for insights into economic trends in a continent that lacks reliable sources of economic data.

Uchumi is favoured by lower-end shoppers who say its prices are slightly cheaper than competing chains who are mainly family owned. Uchumi has 19,000 shareholders, with no single shareholder having more than 4 percent of its shares.

It closed for a few weeks in 2006, under the weight of insolvency, but the government went to the rescue with a 675 million shillings loan.

Ciano told reporters on the shop floor of one of Uchumi's outlets that the company has managed keep up with repayment schedules for outstanding debts to banks, suppliers, debenture-holders and former employees.

Uchumi is working on a plan to relist the company and has called a shareholder meeting later this month, Ciano said.

"The declaration that comes from the shareholders will determine our next step," he said, adding an earlier plan to seek an equity partner was abandoned due to the global downturn.