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Amaco profits dip 15.4 percent despite business growth
President Ruto’s family owns 190,000 shares or 15.83 percent of Amaco through Yegen Farms Limited, where First Lady Rachel Ruto and daughter Charlene Ruto are listed as shareholders, according to government records as of October 25, 2024.
Africa Merchant Assurance (Amaco), which is partly owned by President William Ruto’s family and associates, has reported a 15.4 percent drop in its net profit for 2025 despite a growth in revenues, which were outpaced by a jump in insurance claims.
Amaco reported a net profit of Sh86.2 million for the year ended December 2025, down from Sh101.9 million posted a year earlier. The insurer’s revenues grew to Sh3.82 billion from Sh3.22 billion, driven largely by increased business from the public service vehicles.
Amaco’s foray into the PSV class has been accompanied by a 39 percent increase in claims, which wiped out the 18.6 percent gain in revenues.
The insurer reported insurance expenses, largely claims of Sh2.8 billion, up from Sh2 billion from the previous review period.
A sharp rise in claims has been a common theme across the insurance industry, driven largely by the motor vehicle and medical classes.
A 50.1 percent jump in investment income to Sh193 million and a Sh20 million classified as other operating gain helped boost the insurer’s performance. Amaco had invested Sh1.25 billion in government securities, while Sh1.06 billion was in property.
Amaco last year toppled Directline Assurance as the largest insurer of PSVs after growing its market share in the matatu business to 44.6 percent from 27.7 percent a year earlier.
Amaco collected Sh2.55 billion in premiums from PSVs and Sh464.4 million from personal cars.
It incurred claims of Sh2.37 billion from matatus, of which it had paid Sh1.22 billion, data from the Insurance Regulatory Authority shows. Most insurers have kept off matatus, which are perceived as grossly underpriced and chaotic, opening the door for fraudulent claims.
Amaco has, however, made the industry its mainstay, riding on the readily available market to rise from financial challenges that had previously seen it locked in several court cases that had prompted auctioneers to attempt selling its assets amid cases of defaulting on claims.
President Ruto’s family held 190,000 shares or 15.83 percent of Amaco through Yegen Farms Limited, where First Lady Rachel Ruto and daughter Charlene Ruto were listed as shareholders as of October 2024.
The first family’s shareholding in Amaco was nearly four times the 50,000 shares it held through Yegen by July 2022.
President Ruto, who at one point directly owned 128,000 shares in Amaco, relinquished them to Joubert & Borman Limited, which owns 7.5 percent of the insurer.
