This archive report was first published on 12 December 2019.
December 12, 2019, marked a bleak day for Nakumatt Holdings as the struggling retailer shut down three of its remaining six stores, signaling trouble in its recovery path.
The company, under administration, closed down its Nairobi's Lavington and Prestige outlets as well as the Kisumu branch, leaving it with Nakuru and Nairobi's Highridge and Mega branches.
Notices on the premises revealed that the Prestige on Ngong Road and Lavington outlets have already been rented out to Naivas, a competitor in the market.
Nakumatt's administrator declined to comment on why the retailer has closed the branches over the past few weeks.
The closure comes at a time when the company's creditors are waiting to know its financial position following an audit conducted by Parker Randall for the 2017-2019 period.
The audit firm failed to issue results to creditors at the end of July as originally planned, forcing creditors meetings to abort on several occasions.
However, in November, the court directed the audit firm to distribute the results by December 17 and a creditors meeting be held within a month.
Nakumatt is deep in the red, with an estimated Sh40 billion owed to its suppliers, manufacturers, and landlords, amounts that are unlikely to be paid off by the diminished operation.
