The COVID-19 pandemic had a huge impact on Longhorn’s earnings as sales revenue dipped by 33.3% to Ksh 1.06 billion.

“The revenue growth of four percent in the first half of the year was offset by a 62 percent decline in the second half, attributable to the Covid-19 pandemic,” the publisher said in a statement.

Longhorn had made a Ksh 69 million net profit in the first six months to December 2019. But earnings were affected following schools’ closure by the government in March as it moved to control the spread of the infectious virus.

While Longhorn recorded a loss in Kenya, the situation is different in Tanzania. In Tanzania, the COVID-19 restrictions are not as brutal as in Kenya.

In Tanzania, the publisher posted a 33% rise in sales revenue while in Uganda there was a 15% decline in the same.

Longhorn board has frozen dividend payout on the back of the loss position, in contrast with the previous year when it paid investors Ksh 142 million.

The textbook maker’s loss position was worsened by a rise in operating expenses which factored in Sh22.18 million redundancy costs and Sh68.82 million provisions for default on credit sales.

Longhorn says it expects significant credit losses following a slowdown in collections from its customers owing to Covid-19 economic hardships.