Kenyan fuel distributor KenolKobil said on Wednesday its full year pretax profit for 2017 rose slightly to 3.68 billion shillings ($36.33 million) from 3.54 billion shillings a year earlier, helped by higher sales.

KenolKobil, which also operates in Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Zambia, said its group net sales rose to 158.71 billion shillings from 103.50 billion shillings in 2016.

"The results were achieved despite a slowdown in the economy arising from the prolonged electioneering period, drought and unstable exchange rates in most of the markets the group operates in," it said in a statement, referring to drought and elections in Kenya.

- Reuters