German prophylactic maker Condomi has announced its biggest ever order as Kenya finally implements its Aids prevention strategy.

"With an order of over 50 million condoms for Kenya, the Condomi group has set a new record in the company's history," the firm said in a statement.

The cash-strapped Kenyan government will not pay for the condoms straight away but use a $100m 'soft' loan from the World Bank to pay for 300 million condoms over a four-year period.

Condomi has said it expects double revenues this year to about 38m euros (�23.3m; $33.5m).

Shares in Condomi, the only publicly listed condom maker in Germany, rose over 10% on the news.

In Kenya, where more than half the people live on less than 50 cents a day, a package of three condoms costs 8 cents.

Rubber demand

The order comes after the company announced last year it would build a factory in South Africa to produce 100 million condoms a year.

A similar plant in Kenya was scrapped two years ago because of government red tape and lack of interest.

Condomi has also received an order for 15.8 million condoms for Pakistan and has supplied millions to Burkina Faso, Rwanda, Guinea and Namibia.

With an order backlog for 77.3 million condoms, Condomi plans to increase annual production at its headquarters in Erfurt to 720 million next year from the present 220 million.

Kenya Aids crisis

About 700 people die every day from Aids in Kenya, where more than 2 million Kenyans are HIV-positive and half the beds in government hospitals occupied by Aids patients.

The government of President Daniel Arap Moi has been slow to tackle the Aids crisis and he has said he is "shy" when it comes to talking about condoms and advises people to just avoid sex.

Last year the government announced a plan to import 300 million condoms to control the rapid increase in Aids-related deaths.