Adopting the KK strategy of moving into high value products? Nothing else can explain that decline in the revenue by close to 30%.

The flat gross profit (GP) truly proves that the petroleum retailing business in Kenya is not a volume business anymore but a high value/margin product driven business. The GP game is no longer a "pile them high and sell it cheap" game but a strategic selling game. Plus the cost of sales has been fixed by the government thanks to price controls and a government controlled bulk buying procurement process.

The PBT game on the other hand is a pure finance and strategy play with sales and marketing being relegated to the back-bench.

Profits will determined at the financing level - cost of credit, risk management (forex, hedges, pricing and volume forecasts) and operational efficiency (inventory management,lean structures, bulk storage facilities, IT platforms etc).

Tough times ahead as the "sales game" is easier to play than the "finance game".

Ohana once asked. What's the point of having the highest market share, but making losses. Margins!!. Therein lies your answer.

I foretold this in 2013. In a margin business it is all about the margins

As oil gets clobbered to pulp, oil stocks will struggle to stay afloat. I expect Total and ADSS to keep sliding, but KK may just stay afloat. So the oil sector hedge is KK for those targeting NSE oil stocks.