Eveready batteries are no longer going to be available after the mother company; Eveready East Africa terminated its contract with Energizer Holdings, whom they have been partnering with for the last 49 years.
Eveready Company has stated that the move was reached upon due to the great losses that the firm has been experiencing including being denied the chance to price products by selecting those that seem to be fit for the Kenyan market and expanding its range of products by Energizer Holdings.
The Firm has in turn signed an agreement with an American Multinational, which will allow it to manufacture most of its products from China with a brand-new name of Turbo.
“We opted not to renew the contract and signed partnership deals with global manufactures working out of Asia. Our flagship products, including batteries and flashlights, are already retailing under the brand name Turbo,” said Eveready’s Managing Director Jackson Mutua.
Mutua disclosed that the company did not have any ownership or control of the energizer brands which yet they were partners adding that Energizer Holdings at some point last year went ahead and changed the company’s purchase terms from an open to cash-based account without notifying them, thus affecting their supply ability in Kenya.
“We had zero ownership and control of the Energizer brands. That posed a risk of how sustainable the business was and compromised our ability to grow,” added Mr Mutua.
Together with its new partners, the firm will be supplying a range of dry batteries, portable flashlights and shavers.
Eveready reported a 58.9 million shillings’ loss for the half-year to March 2016 compared to the 12.4 million shillings it made during a similar period the previous year.
The loss-making company has in recent years diversified its business by taking on the distributorship of other products including Clorox bleach and Turbo car batteries. Eveready recently launched a detergent, Everclean, into the market with plans to expand this brand to include dishwashing and soap.