diff --git a/CHANGES.rst b/CHANGES.rst
index b98f1f0c..4cb7da09 100644
--- a/CHANGES.rst
+++ b/CHANGES.rst
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ New features:
 Bugfixes:
 
 * Fix type annotation for `ConsumerRecord` (pr #912 by @zschumacher)
+* Improve send performance (issue #943)
 
 
 Improved Documentation:
diff --git a/aiokafka/__init__.py b/aiokafka/__init__.py
index e2c059cd..e9d4706b 100644
--- a/aiokafka/__init__.py
+++ b/aiokafka/__init__.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-__version__ = '0.9.0.rc0'  # noqa
+__version__ = '0.9.0.rc1'  # noqa
 
 from .abc import ConsumerRebalanceListener
 from .client import AIOKafkaClient