The court has allowed Uchumi Supermarkets and Eurocrat to adjourn for a month a suit in which the latter sued the former over nonpayment of Sh67 million for refrigerators delivered between 2014 and 2015.
The postponement, the two firms said on Tuesday, will allow them to reconcile figures before returning to court.
Euromart, in its suit papers, told the court it supplied the refrigerators to Uchumi and were installed at seven of its branches. Some were supplied in 2014 and others in 2015, but no payment was made.
Its efforts to demand its dues in writing did not bear fruit, the firm claims.
“On November 19, 2014, Uchumi issues a local purchase order for the supply of refrigeration and other equipment valued at Sh26 million to their Naivasha branch. More similar purchase orders addressed to us were issued by Uchumi on diverse dates of 2014 and 2015 for the supply of goods and we delivered the goods promptly to them as per their specifications,” states Euromart.
The firm says it supplied refrigerators to
Uchumi’s
Naivasha branch valued at (Sh26 million), Limuru (Sh8.4 million), Lang'ata Road (Sh1.9 million), Ngong Hyper (Sh5.1 million), Kenyatta University Uni City (Sh25 million), Sarit Centre and Aga Khan Walk (Sh910,000).
Euromart says after meetings with Uchumi managers, they promised to pay up but have not done so.
However, the country's oldest retail chain has denied owing Sh67 million to Euromart and wants the court to dismiss the claims.
The case will come up for directions on March 6.
Uchumi's losses narrowed 17.6 per cent in 12 months through June 2016 to Sh2.8 billion compared to Sh3.5 billion a year earlier, it announced last month.