ZIMBABWE – Simbisa Brands Limited, one of Africa’s largest fast-food restaurant operators, is scheduled to migrate to the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange (VFEX) following its de-listing from the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE).

Simbisa will be the fifth counter on the VFEX, joining the likes of Seed Co International.

A subsidiary of the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE), the US$ denominated exchange was launched in 2021 as part of efforts to attract global capital and restore foreign investor confidence in Zimbabwe’s capital markets and help companies raise capital in foreign currency.

The quick service restaurants (QSR) group, has registered solid performance in the full year ended June 2020, with both top and bottom-line earnings exceeding pre-pandemic levels.

Its customer count in all the outlets across the region grew by 28.6% to over 52.3 million customers, driven by continued investment in new store rollouts and successful marketing and promotional initiatives.

This led to group revenue rising by 75.9% year-on-year to ZWL 72.915 billion (US$201m), coupled with a pricing strategy that resulted in menu price increments executed in a minimal and phased approach to mitigate the impact on its customers.

In its home market, Simbisa performed commendably as customer counts grew 28.0% delivering a 48.1% increase in revenue.

The market also achieved same-store revenue growth in existing outlets through promotional activity, value offerings and increased sales through delivery channels, with total deliveries growing by 55.5% year-on-year.

Meanwhile, revenue generated by its regional operations increased 38.1% year-on-year in USD terms.

In Kenya revenue grew 39.2%, in neighbouring Zambia revenue increased 48.8%, Mauritius saw top-line growth of 25.9%, with Ghana managing to grow revenue by 24.2% in USD terms.

Its franchised markets, the DRC, achieved top-line growth of 47.1%, driven by a 30.5% year-on-year increase in customer counts and a 12.7% increase in average-spend.

“Despite economic headwinds and challenges emanating from the Covid-19 pandemic, the Group has managed to grow the business to record levels and continues to create value for stakeholders.

“With the easing of trading restrictions in our operating markets, trading capacity has scaled up, and with that, customer counts have shown a recovery.

“This highlights the robustness and resilience of Simbisa’s operating model, which stands the Group on solid ground to ride the wave of recovery into FY2023 and beyond as we leave the worst of the impact from the Covid-19 pandemic behind us,” highlighted Simbisa brands.

The owner of Chicken Inn, Creamy Inn, Galito’s, Nando’s, among others, revealed that it has allocated a substantial investment, with 180 potential projects identified over the next two financial years, will drive growth and unlock shareholder value.

Between 2022 and 2024, Simbisa Brands intends to make significant progress in firmly establishing itself as a corporate that bridges the gap for people in various communities.

This will be done by focusing the Simbisa Brands Corporate Social Responsibility strategy on three key United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: zero hunger, quality education, clean water, and sanitation.

The Group is also embarking on a project to build a community school in Zimbabwe for underprivileged learners.

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