Tyre Distributor Sameer Africa To Lay Off 52 Employees As From February.

By Jakowiti Atwech 

Tyre distributor Sameer Africa will from February 1st 2020 lay off 52 employees as it struggles to survive in the corporate scene.

Plans by the firm to change strategy in 2016 when it stopped local manufacturing of its key tyre brand Yana and opted to outsource to Asia did not bear fruit.

Sameer now intends to close various tyre centres and offices across Kenya and release employees in batches between February 1 and end of April.

• “Arising from the foregoing, the board of directors has resolved to restructure the company further by aligning the company operations to become more of a trading and distributorship outfit,” acting managing director Peter Gitonga said in a notice to Nairobi County labour office.

Sameer group head count has been declining in the recent years, shrinking by 120 from 288 staff in 2017 to 168 at the end of 2018.

Sameer widened its net loss 15.8 times to Sh182.8 million in the first six months of 2019, with stock-outs and counterfeit products complicating its recovery effort.