ZIMBABWE – Listed diversified group Innscor Africa Limited (Innscor) recorded $1 billion revenue in the year to June 2014, up 54 percent from $656 million realised prior year.
The group said performance of its units was below expectation despite the revenue being a record in Zimbabwe since dollarisaton in 2009.
Its chairman David Morgan said the group was facing a challenging trading environment for the greater part of the financial year.
“This has been compounded by inefficient management structures in a number of its core businesses, in many cases gross profit margins were also reduced in an effort to stimulate revenues against a backdrop of reducing disposable incomes,” said Morgan.
During the period under review, Innscor recorded an operating profit of $80,56 million compared to $67,4 million previous period and an after-tax profit of $78,8 million against $48,6 million in 2013.
The group’s local Spar operations in retail and distribution, bakery operations and fast food operations performances were subdued and approximately $7 million in one-off cost and restructure provisions were channelled through its statement of profit or loss.
Bakeries and the fast foods subsidiaries recorded a three percent decline in revenue to $261 million as demand for bread declined by 10 percent with 115 million loaves sold, compared to 128 million last year.
“This volume reduction together with an increase in operating overheads combined to produce a poor overall result for the business with profitability significantly lower than that achieved in the prior year,” said Morgan.
September 12, 2014; http://www.dailynews.co.zw/articles/2014/09/12/innscor-posts-1bn-revenue
