Billionaire Heril Bangera owned Flame Tree Group was the week’s top gainer at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), its share price climbing 29.1% to close at KSh 1.91.

Flame Tree Group Holdings (FTGH) with a market capitalization of US$ 2.6 Million (KSh 335.4 Million), has a presence in Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Mozambique. The listed firm is a leading manufacturer of the Household Roto Tanks, the Zoe cosmetic brand, Cerro nail polish brand, Alana body and skin lotion, Siora hair extensions, wigs and weaves and the Builtmart construction brand.

Bangera maintains a majority stake at Flame Tree Group, at 84%, and is one of the top billionaires at the NSE. He has been at the helm of the firm for the past 36 years having founded it in 1989 as Roto Moulders. He was only 18 years old then. Flame Tree Group operates in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods(FMCG) segment, plastics and trading sectors with an annual turnover of over KSh 2 billion.

Some of the top individual shareholders of Flame Tree Group, include Bangera with 149,577,242 shares or 84.01%, Mukumbu Japheth Mulinge 2,914,900 shares or 1.64%, Dawid Dominikus Johannes 2,605,200 shares (1.46%), Shah Ramesh Chandra with 1,448,933 shares (0.81%), Mwaniki Njuki 1,173,800 shares (0.66%).

Others include Gichuki Simon Gachira with 871,630 shares or 0.49% ownership, Burbidge Edward Lyndon Lovell 414,130 shares (0.23%), Eric Ochieng Oduor 343,300 shares (0.19%), Gacheru Charles Kiai 332,523 shares (0.19%), Juma Al Noor Akbarali 275,200 shares (0.15%), Peter Mwakio Tole 233,000 shares (0.13%), Gagani Rakesh Prakas 231,100 shares (0.13%), Shah Vasanti Mahendra Kumar 224,900 (0.13%) and Khan Imtiaz 205,810 shares (0.12%).

FTGH began the year with a share price of KSh 1 and the counter has risen in price to KSh 1.91, rewarding its shareholders handsomely over the past few weeks. The counter is now the third best performer at the NSE.

Data from Standard Investment Bank(SIB) shows that Flame Tree Group’s share price stood at KSh 1.90 at the close of last week, with a market capitalization of US$ 2.6m, and a year-to-date price upswing of 91.0%.

According to analysts, present bullish activity at the NSE is being fuelled by investors coming to the equity market in search of higher yields.

Figures indicate that the 364-day treasury bill interest rate has dropped from the highs of 16% in August 2024 to 9.5% currently. Between October and December 2024, the weekly T-bills auction were heavily subscribed with the CBK collecting over 50 billion a week against the KSh 24 billion offered. This is as investors rushed to reap from the double digit yields. Now the appetite for Government paper has weakened and cooled off as interest rates fall.