Nairobi Securities Exchange — NSE 25 Slips 0.28% as WPP Scangroup Jumps 4.1% on 2025 Earnings
The NSE 25 fell 0.28% on April 29, 2026, with decliners beating gainers 36 to 14. WPP Scangroup still rose 4.1% after releasing 2025 results, highlighting increasingly selective positioning in Kenya’s equity market.
|6 min read
The clearest signal from Nairobi on Wednesday, April 29, 2026 came from a split screen of 2 numbers: the NSE 25 fell 0.28% to 5,699.41, while WPP Scangroup climbed 4.1% after releasing its audited 2025 financial results. In a session where 36 stocks declined, against 14 gainers and 6 unchanged, the advertising group’s rise stood out as evidence that Kenya’s equity market is still willing to reward earnings releases seen as resilient, even as the broader tape weakens.
That selectivity makes sense in the current macro backdrop. Brent crude at $109.66 a barrel, despite a 1.4% daily drop, is still up 4.1% over the week, keeping pressure on fuel, freight and imported input costs across East Africa. At the same time, the US dollar traded at 128.1351 KES, up just 0.04% on the day, but still at a level that matters for companies with dollar-linked procurement, foreign debt or imported inventory. In other words, the market is reading NSE earnings April 2026 through a hard filter: margin protection, cost discipline and cash generation.
The broader market tone was soft throughout the session. The NSE 20 slipped 0.17% to 3,563.42, while the NSE 25 lost 0.28% to 5,699.41. With 36 decliners out of 56 listed counters, the weakness was not confined to one or two heavyweights. That matters for anyone tracking the Kenya stock market: even when earnings releases trigger stock-specific rallies, the underlying market remains cautious.
Turnover was concentrated in the usual large caps. Safaricom Plc, still the market’s anchor stock, edged up 0.3% to 30.0 KES on 163.5 million KES in traded value. Equity Group Holdings Limited fell 1.0% on 74.0 million KES, while KCB Group dropped 1.5% on 44.1 million KES. That pattern says at least 2 things. First, liquidity remains heavily concentrated in telecoms and banks. Second, Safaricom’s mild gain was not enough to offset weakness in lenders, even as the exchange announced the launch of a Banking Sector Index on April 29, according to the NSE press release.
The divergence also reflects macro sensitivity. With USD/KES at 128.1351, banks remain exposed to credit-quality concerns among import-dependent borrowers and to the broader cost of funding environment. Safaricom, by contrast, still trades more on the medium-term earnings story around M-Pesa and its Ethiopia expansion than on day-to-day macro noise. That helps explain why the safaricom share price today held firmer than many domestic cyclicals.
WPP Scangroup financial results: why the stock rose 4.1%
The day’s most notable earnings reaction came from WPP Scangroup Plc, which published audited results for the year ended December 31, 2025, according to the official filing released on April 29, 2026. The stock rose 4.1%, making it one of the strongest performers of the session despite the broader market decline. That move is significant because recent earnings season on the NSE has been uneven, with investors punishing weak numbers across several sectors.
Why did the market respond positively? First, investors are paying for visibility rather than headline growth alone. In advertising and communications, revenue depends heavily on corporate marketing budgets, which in turn are shaped by consumer demand, imported inflation and margin pressure. With oil above $109 and the shilling near 128.1 per dollar, clients are likely to scrutinize discretionary spending more closely. A constructive market reaction to WPP Scangroup’s 2025 release therefore suggests the results were seen as more resilient than feared.
Second, the move reinforces a broader theme in NSE Kenya today: smaller and mid-cap counters can still attract buying when earnings surprise on the upside. This is important in the current reporting season. The market is not moving by sector in a uniform way; it is repricing company by company, based on who can defend revenue, absorb cost inflation and preserve operating leverage. That is exactly the kind of dispersion retail investors should watch during earnings season rather than relying only on index direction.
Insurers and media names add to the earnings-heavy session
WPP Scangroup was not alone. Jubilee Holdings released audited consolidated 2025 results, Sanlam Allianz Holdings Kenya published audited financial statements for 2025, and Nation Media Group also reported audited 2025 numbers, according to official announcements dated April 29. In the market, Jubilee ended up 0.1% at 375.0 KES, Sanlam Kenya gained 2.0% to 9.18 KES, and Nation Media Group rose 1.8% to 14.15 KES.
Those gains were modest, but in a negative session they still matter. They suggest investors are differentiating between companies that can preserve profitability and those still struggling with cost inflation or weak demand. For insurers, the key variables remain investment income, claims experience and premium growth. For media groups, the central issue is still advertising monetisation in an economy where households and corporates are both more selective with spending. In that sense, the session extended themes already visible in Bourse de Nairobi — Le NSE 25 cède 0,35%, les résultats 2025 secouent les assureurs et les médias.
Other earnings releases included Sameer Africa, BOC Kenya and Laptrust Imara I-REIT. But the market did not offer blanket support. Sameer Africa fell 2.4% to 16.6 KES, a reminder that publishing results is not enough on its own. Investors are looking beyond the headline release to balance-sheet quality, margin trajectory and the credibility of operational recovery.
Movers beyond earnings: tourism up, fuel and agriculture softer
Away from the reporting calendar, the day’s price action still carried useful signals. TPS Eastern Africa Serena was the top gainer, up 6.8% to 16.6 KES, ahead of WPP Scangroup’s 4.1% rise. That may point to renewed interest in tourism-linked names, especially as travel receipts remain an important source of foreign exchange for Kenya.
On the downside, losses were concentrated in sectors exposed to input costs and domestic demand. Total Kenya fell 1.7% to 42.5 KES, a move consistent with investor caution toward downstream fuel margins while Brent remains elevated. Agricultural counters were also weak: Sasini Tea and Coffee lost 1.9%, Kapchorua Tea fell 2.0%, and Kakuzi dropped 2.1%. The coffee price at $290.5, down 5.2% on the day, may have weighed on sentiment around coffee-linked names, even if each company’s earnings profile differs. In industrials, Car and General Kenya slid 4.4% to 65.0 KES, underlining how cyclical counters remain vulnerable when financing costs and demand are both under pressure.
Outlook: what to watch after April 29
The next step for the market is how it digests this dense batch of 2025 earnings across insurers, media, industrials and property-linked names. Investors will also be tracking the exchange’s structural announcements from April 29, including the launch of the Banking Sector Index, the admission of Fintrust Securities as an authorised dealer in fixed income, and the appointment of Sterling Capital as a market maker in the derivatives segment, according to NSE statements.
