BH24 Reporter

HARARE - Agro-industrial group, CFI Holdings was pur-portedly suspended from the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange this morning.

According to stockbrokers who spoke on condition of anonymity, the announce-ment was made prior to com-mencement of trading today.

"CFI was suspended, it was announced in the morning and it didn't trade. But no reasons were given for the suspension," said a broker.

And it is not clear how long the suspension will run.

No comment could be obtained

from CFI Holdings as CEO Mr Steve Kuipa’s mobile number was unreachable.

CFI is the holding company of several agro-industrial con-

cerns including Agrifoods, Crest Breeders, Victoria Foods as well as retail chain Farm and City Centre

The group is set to dispose

its Langford Estate to Fidel-ity Life Assurance in a land-for-debt swap deal worth $16 million.

CFI owes FBC Bank, Agrib-ank, CBZ, the Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimba-bwe, NMB and Standard Char-tered a combined $18 mil-lion, which will be assumed by Fidelity under the terms of the deal.

The agro-industrial group has been struggling in recent times, reporting a $3,8 mil-lion loss in the half-year to March from $5,5 million in the prior period.

In yesterday's trades, CFI's shares rose 5,94 percent to close at 6,06c.●

News Update as @ 1530 hours, Wednesday 27 January 2016Feedback: bh24admin@zimpapers.co.zwEmail: bh24feedback@zimpapers.co.zw

CFI Holdings suspended from ZSE?

BH24

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2

By Tawanda Musarurwa

HARARE – Phoenix Air (Pri-vate) Limited has made a sec-ond application to the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimba-bwe for a commercial licence to service domestic and regional routes.

If successful, the move could further increase competition for national carrier and other private airliners plying the domestic and regional routes.

According to the latest gov-ernment gazette, the new air-line has lodged an application to the Air Services Board.

The airliner made a similar application in May 2012.

“Notice is hereby that Phoe-nix Air (Private) Limited has applied to the Air Services Board, for the use of an Air Services Permit to provide commercial scheduled and non-scheduled air services for the carriage of passengers,

dry and/or fresh cargo, and mail on local, regional and international routes,” reads part of the notice.

Government has adopted an open skies policy which has seen the entry of two low cost airlines into the local market -

FlyAfrica and fastjet.

Low cost operator, Fly Africa, which was licenced in August 2014, started flying in Novem-ber from Harare to Johan-nesburg and Victoria Falls to Johannesburg. It had expanded its wings to include

the Harare to Johannesburg and Bulawayo to Johannes-burg routes.

But the airline was suspended from operating in the country by the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ), which regulates and manages Zim-babwe's airspace and airports in October last year after boardroom squabbles erupted between the airline's local and South African shareholders.

However CAAZ has since cleared FlyAfrica to resume flying.

On the other hand, fastjet Zimbabwe, which is headquar-tered in Tanzania, made its entry into the domestic air-lines market last October.

fastjet currently services the Harare - Victoria Falls and the Harare - Dar-es-Salaam routes, and fro next month will commence the Harare - Johannesburg route.●

3 NEWS

Phoenix Air in second bid for commercial licence

BH244

By Funny Hudzerema

HARARE - International real estate company Fine & Coun-try real estate agency has opened its first branch in Zim-babwe.

The company, specialises in providing a premium property service through exceptional marketing and professional-ism in the upper market and has got 300 offices around the globe.

Fine & Country sub Saha-ran Africa chief executive Ms Linda Erasmus said the group is expecting to open more branches in the country.

“We are very upbeat about the new addition to our business and look forward to establish-ing ourselves in Zimbabwe.

“As new offices open across Zimbabwe, we hope to have about 80 Fine and Country agents’ nationwide servic-ing vendors and buyers alike

with commercial, residential, industrial land and small hold-ings, vacation, spots and new developments,” she said.

Fine & Country Zimbabwe CEO Ms Karen Nyenga said the group entered Zimbabwe as a result of the high opportuni-ties which are available in the

country, especially in respect of construction.

“Most of the houses have large tracts of land and infrastruc-ture is fairly good. There is a huge push now for sustainable green energy developments which is a new frontier for the country,” she added.

“According to 2002 statis-tics, in Harare alone there was a deficit of over 1,8 mil-lion homes and not significant number of new homes have been built to cover this gap.

“Therefore there remains a huge gap between supply and demand which needs to be filled.”●

5 NEWS

Minister Monica Mutsvangwa

Fine & Country Real Estate enters Zim, eyes expansion

BH246

BH24 Reporter

HARARE - Zimbabwe has this month exported 22, 5 mil-lion kilogrammes of Virginia tobacco earning $166 mil-lion up from 20, 4 million kg worth $160,7 million that was exported over the same period last year, latest statistics from the Tobacco Industry Market-ing Board (TIMB) show.

Tobacco remains one of the country's main export earners as minerals have underper-formed on the back of weak commodity prices.

The TIMB figures show that China remains the biggest importer of Zimbabwean tobacco, having imported 18,6 million kg of tobacco to the tune of $151 million at an average price of $8,09 per kg.

Belgium is the second largest buyer and has so far bought 1,1 million kg worth $5,5 million at an average price of $4,69 per kg followed by neighboring South Africa that imported 688 000 kg worth $1,2 million at an average price of $1, 89 per kg.

Indonesia is fourth having

imported 627 957 kg worth $3,3 million at an average $5,38 per kg, while the United Arab Emirates (UAE) pur-chased 475 200 kg valued at $1,5 milllion at an average price of $3,19 per kg.

Meanwhile, last week TIMB chief executive Dr Andrew Matibiri expressed concern over efforts by sections of the international community to ban the international trade of tobacco, which could have an adverse effect on the local economy.

“One particular concern for

us is the current threat to exclude tobacco from interna-tional trade agreements and to treat it in a special way dif-ferently from other products which may affect health or the environment.

“Therefore any form of restric-tions and bans on tobacco has serious implications on the livelihoods of our farmers and will definitely and significantly impact the economy of the country,” said Dr Matibiri.

Zimbabwe currently exports its tobacco to 58 countries.●

7 NEWS

2016 tobacco exports hit $166m

02 03

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BH248

HARARE - The mainstream industrial index extended yesterday's losses by an additional 0.45 (or 0,44 percent) to close at 102.30 in low trading.

Two counters weighed down the bourse.

Giant beverages producer Delta dropped $0,0100 to close at $0,5400 while

giant retailer OK Zimba-bwe lost $0,0004 to trade at $0,0371.

Short-term insurer Nicoz-Diamond and SeedCo traded unchanged at $0,0162 and $0,8250 respectively.

Banker Barclays was the only counter trading in the positive after gain-

ing $0,0005 to settle at $0,0390.

The mining index was again steady at 19.53 as Bindura, Falgold, Hwange and RioZim maintained previous price levels at $0,0100, $0,0050, $0,0300 and $0,1040 respectively

- BH24 Reporter ●

ZSE9

Industrials extend losses

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MovERS CHANGE TodAy PRICE USC SHAKERS CHANGE TodAy PRICE USC

Barclays 1.29 3.90 DELTA -1.81 54.00

OK ZIM -1.06 3.71

INdEx PREvIoUS TodAy MovE CHANGE

INDUSTRIAL 102.75 102.30 -0.45 points -0.44%

MINING 19.53 19.53 +0.00 POINTS +0.00%

11 ZSE TABlES

ZSE

INdICES

Stock Exchange

BH24

MANYAME RURAL DISTRICT COUNCIL

TENDER INVITATION

Tenders are invited from registered companies for the tenders listed below:

TENDER NO. DESCRIPTION TENDER COST

HRD 1/2016 Service of computers, printers, laptops and photocopiers $50

HRD 02/2016 Tender for delivery, Management of Wide Area Network, Internet services, Website and $50

Manyame Domain

FIN01/2016 Insurance $50

RW01/2016 Vehicle Service tender $50

RW02/2016 Earthmoving Equipment service tender $50

Tenders must be enclosed in sealed envelopes and clearly endorsed on the outside with the advertised tender number. Tender documents

can be obtained at Manyame RDC Beatrice offices upon payment of a non-refundable tender fee of $50.

Manyame Rural District Council does not bind itself to accept the lowest or any tender and reserves the right to accept the whole or part of any

tender.

Tenders should be accompanied by the following:

Ÿ Company Profile

Ÿ Certified Copy of Current VAT Clearance Certificate and Certified VAT Registration certificate

Ÿ Physical and Postal address

Ÿ Proof of registration with State Procurement Board

Ÿ Certified copy of Certificate of Incorporation

Ÿ CR14

thYour submission should be hand delivered to the following address by 0900hours on 29 FEBRUARY, 2016.

The Chief Executive Officer Manyame Rural District Council

Manyame Rural District Council Beatrice Head Office

P. O. Box 99 54km along Harare/Masvingo Road

Beatrice

OR

TARI-D

I353390-D2

12

13 dIARy oF EvENTS

The black arrow indicate level of load shedding across the country.

PoWER GENERATIoN STATS

Gen Station

27 January 2016

Energy

(Megawatts)

Hwange 563 MW

Kariba 285 MW

Harare 30 MW

Munyati 24 MW

Bulawayo 23 MW

Imports 0 - 250 MW

Total 1322 MW

—28 January 2016 – Chamber of Mines Zimbabwe State of the Mining Industry Report 2015 launch; venue: Rainbow Towers; Time: 0730hrs -1300hrs

—10 February 2016 - Nampak Zimbabwe Annual General Meeting: venue 68 Birmingham Road, Southerton, Harare: Time 12:00

—18 February 2016 - 70th Annual General Meeting of the members of CAFCA ; Place: Boardroom at the company’s registered office at 54 lytton Road, Workington, Harare; Time: 12:00 hours

—23 February 2015 - 38th Annual General Meeting of the members of Powerspeed Electrical limited; Place: Powerspeed Board-room, Gate 1, Powerspeed Complex, Corner Cripps Road and Kelvin Road North, Graniteside, Harare; Time: 1100 hours

THE BH24 dIARy

BH2414

JoHANNESBURG - South Africa's rand was a tad firmer against the dollar on today, in a market anticipat-ing an interest rate hike as the central bank fights infla-tion pressures.

But analysts said the rand was not l ikely to gain on a sustainable basis, being at the mercy of general risk aversion as investors worry about the impact of slowing growth in China.

At 0651 GMT the rand was trading at 16,4050 ver-sus the dollar, up 0,09 per-cent compared with where it ended Tuesday trade.

Just one month into 2016, the local currency has already weakened nearly 6 percent against the green-back, dragged down by con-cerns over sluggish domestic growth and a slowdown in the world's second biggest economy.

"Aside from domestic factors, the rand wil l continue to be vulnerable unti l markets in China calm down," NKC Afri-

can Economics said in a note outl ining short-term risks to the domestic currency.

"Higher local interest rates wil l not remedy this situa-tion even if the central bank hikes signif icantly in the

first quarter of 2016 as the rand remains at the mercy of broader emerging market sentiment."

South African stocks looked l ikely to start sl ightly f irmer, with the Top-40 futures index ALSIH6 up 0,36 percent prior

to the start of trade at 0700 GMT.

On the debt market, the yield for the 2026 benchmark gov-ernment bond eased 2 basis points to 9,635 percent. - Reuters●

REGIoNAl NEWS 15

Rand firmer, but will struggle to sustain gains

During the next eight days, independent US oil explor-ers are expected to report 2015 losses totaling almost $14 bill ion, the result of the steepest price collapse in a generation.

Hess Corp. kicks off earnings season for the companies today with what analysts pre-dict will be an annual loss of $1,6 bill ion, its worst perfor-mance in at least 28 years. It will be followed by peers including Murphy Oil Corp. and Anadarko Petroleum Corp., which also have been squeezed by a crude drop of more than 70 percent since June 2014.

“It’s not going to be pretty,” said Carl Larry, head of oil and gas for Frost & Sullivan LP in Houston.

Investors have punished oil and gas explorers, wiping out more than $300 bill ion in mar-ket value for the companies in the Bloomberg Intelligence North America Independent E&Ps Valuation Peer Group in the past year. Distressed debt exchanges and bankruptcies are mounting. The compa-

nies have fired thousands of workers, abandoned drill ing projects, cut dividends and restructured debt to conserve cash and fend off insolvency.

For most independent explor-ers -- those that don’t also

own refineries and retail gas-oline stations -- cash flows have been “decimated” by the fall in oil prices, a team of analysts at Wells Fargo Secu-rities LLC including David Tameron and Gordon Douthat said in a note to clients on

Jan. 25.

Hess Assets

After spending the past half decade slimming down from an owner of refineries, fi l l-ing stations and oil wells to a pure-play crude explorer, Hess may have few assets left to sell if it finds itself needing to raise cash, Fitch Ratings said in a report this month. Hess cut its 2016 drill ing budget by 40 percent to $2,4 bill ion on Tuesday.

The New York-based produc-er’s per-share fourth-quar-ter loss, excluding one-time items, is expected to be $1,46, based on the aver-age of 22 analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. That’s the biggest estimated loss among the 61 companies in the BI E&Ps group.

Later on Wednesday, Mur-phy Oil Corp. is expected to post a full-year loss of $1,8 bill ion, which would be the worst 12-month result for the driller since at least 1987, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

- Bloomberg●

INTERNATIoNAl NEWS 16

US oil explorers seen reporting $14 billion in 2015 losses

By Frik Els

Nickel was the worst per-former in a pretty sorry com-modities field in 2015. The steelmaking ingredient lost just shy of 42 percent of its value last year.

What makes nickel's dismal year even more disappointing is that following Indonesia's ore ban at the outset of 2014, the stars seemed to align for the metal and analysts rushed to its defence (guilty as charged).

That sent the nickel price to above $20 000 less than five months later; only to come crashing down to the lowest since 2003 in November last year at barely over $8 000.

Today's nickel price is also in stark contrast with a 1993 to 2015 average of $13 600 a tonne (not to mention the $54 050 hit in May 2007), so it's not just the winding down of the supercycle that can be blamed for the latest rout.

It appears most miners and analysts misread the mar-ket as nickel succumbed to unforeseen forces, not least of which its use in China's shadow banking system (a factor also blamed for cop-per's underperformance).

The price rallied to exchange hands at $8 655 a tonne on

Tuesday in sympathy with copper's run on the back of strong Chinese import num-bers, but it takes a strong stomach to forecast where the price is headed in 2016.

As this chart from US Global Investors shows nickel again taking the prize as the most volatile of the major commod-

ities (the gold price swings the least by the way) as it has done in previous years.

Nickel's volatil ity and unpre-dictability helps to explain why the name is derived from the German for the devil's copper or Old Nick's copper. - Mining.com●

17 analysis17 ANAlySIS

one more reason you don't want to mine nickel