Kenyan hotelier TPS's pretax profit falls 71 percent in 2014

Kenya hotelier TPS Eastern Africa posted a 71 percent drop in pretax profit last year to 220 million shillings ($2.33 million), hurt by militant attacks in Kenya that scared away tourists. 

Somali militant group al Shabaab has staged a series of attacks on Kenyan soil over the past two years, including the raid on a university where it massacred 148 people this month. The group also killed 67 during a 2013 attack on the Westgate shopping mall in the capital Nairobi.

TPS, which operates a chain of luxury hotels, lodges and tented camps across east Africa under its Serena brand, said travel warnings issued by Western governments had dented Kenyan tourism. The industry had also been hit by a value-added tax on tourism services, it added.

"The Kenyan coast is experiencing an unprecedented business crisis and unfortunately, most of the setbacks continue to negatively impact foreign leisure business levels in 2015," the company said in a statement.

It did not break down the contribution of each of the countries to its turnover, which fell 7 percent to 6.3 billion shillings.

TPS said its business in Tanzania also suffered extensive cancellations between September and March this year due to the negative publicity from the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. Other countries were also affected.

Earnings per share fell to 40 percent to 1.35 shillings. The company proposed a dividend of 1.35 shillings per share, unchanged from last year.