BH24 Reporter

HARARE –Listed seed-pro-ducer SeedCo registered a 3 percent increase in profit after tax to $15,4 million for the year ended March 31, 2016 from $15 million recorded the previous year.

The group’s turnover was unchanged at $96 million from prior year.

This was notwithstanding the effects of the El Nino induced drought, depressed commodity prices and a general reduction of Government input pro-grams in the country in which the seed-producer operates, which affected demand for its products.

News Update as @ 1530 hours, Friday 10 June 2016

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SeedCo defies El Nino, posts higher FY profit

Finance costs were down 39 percent $1, 9 million due to access to cheaper loan facil-ities. SeedCo’s gross margin increased by 7 percent during the period.

“This was due to the increased efficiency in cost of sales management through reduced inventory write-off, as well as value pricing in selected markets and products in short supply,” attributed manage-ment.

Total sales volume down 16 percent on prior year as a result of the challenging exogenous factors indicated earlier. The group’s operating costs were up as a result of the inclusion of the new veg-etable business expenses and increased market development costs in new markets.

Trade receivables, money owed to the business by its debtors, stood at $42 million at the close of the year, a 10 percent decline due to govern-ment business being done by

through financing structures and improved debt collection.

SeedCo’s short term borrow-ings have also increased quite significantly to $28,5 million. In terms of outlook, the group said it is going to focus on growing its ultra-early maize seed varieties in the region.

“There is increasing demand

for our recently released ultra-early maize seed varieties with the changing weather patterns and we expect to increase share in most markets,” said the company in a statement accompanying the results.

The board has recommended a dividend of 0, 2 cents per share.●

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HARARE -President Robert Mugabe has appointed mem-bers of the Zimbabwe Land Commission, a team tasked to ensure accountability, fairness and transparency in the administration of state agricultural land among other things.

Addressing journalists on Friday, Lands and Rural Resettlement Minister Dr Douglas Mombeshora said President Mugabe appointed the Land Commissioners in terms of Section 296 of the Constitution.

The nine member Commis-sion is chaired by Tendai Bare who is deputized by Tadious Muzoroza.

Other members are Rtd Major Abdul Nyati, Leanatte Manjengwa, Judith Buzuzi, Emmanuel Nyamusa, Magret Chinhamora, Edmore Ndudzo and Luke Buka.

The commission is also

tasked with conducting periodical audits of agri-cultural land and making recommendations to Govern-ment regarding enforcement of any law restricting the amount of land that may be held by any person.

Dr Mombeshora said his ministry had accelerated evaluation of farms acquired by government for resettle-

ment to establish how much the state owes former white farmers as compensation.

“We engaged a consultant and we are working together with UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) with the main aim being to find consensus based com-pensation.

“For compensation to take place we also need to do evaluations. So currently we have embarked on an accelerated valuation process where we have 13 teams that we have assembled throughout our provinces and (we

are) currently about to finish valuations of all farms acquired in Mashonaland central province,” he said.

He added: “Out of the seven districts, they have done six so far and (are) now in Mazowe which is the last one. They will move to the

next province until we have completed.”

Dr Mombeshora said upon conclusion of evaluations, the information would be presented to treasury so that Government can avail funds for compensation.

“We are hoping that this exercise we have embarked on, will give us a clear pic-ture of what the government owes,” he said.

Government has so far fully compensated 240 white for-mer farmers whose farms it acquired under the agrarian reforms, as it moves to bring finality to the land question.

Zimbabwe embarked on a land reform program at the turn of the millennium to address colonial land own-ership imbalances between blacks and whites.

New Ziana.●

Zimbabwe appoints land commission

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Dr Douglas Mombeshora

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BH24 Reporter

HARARE –Listed agro-in-dustrial firm TSL Ltd’s profit after tax slid 64 percent to $600 000 in the half year to April 30, 2016 on the back of a weak performance by the group’s agriculture unit dur-ing the period under review.

TSL is the holding company of companies including TSL Classic Leaf, Propak, Bak Logistics, Agricura, Avis, TSF, TSL Properties, TSL Trading and TSL Greenbelt.

The agriculture unit, which consists of tobacco-related

services, agricultural trading and agricultural commodity production were negatively affected by the late opening of the tobacco selling sea-son, which resulted in group revenue declining by 15 per-cent to $20,7 million.

“Due to the late start of the tobacco selling season and to a lesser extent, the slow uptake of agro inputs, the revenues of the agriculture operations were 49 percent down on prior year,” noted TSL in a statement accompa-nying the results.

The group’s operating profit at $1, 6 million was down 57 percent. The company’s borrowings were down 8 per-cent compared to the similar period last year, although at a higher level than at full-year end due to the seasonal nature of some of its busi-nesses.

In respect of its other opera-tions, management however highlighted that a steady performance was registered in the logistics business, which contributed 45 percent of the group’s revenue.

It also said the performance of both the logistics and real estate operations had mitigated the overall decline in group revenues. The real estate unit contributed $4,7 million to total revenue.

“The Real Estate Cluster con-tinues to contribute strongly although rate reductions, in line with market trends, have impacted profitability,” said the group.

The board did not declare a dividend for the period “due to the seasonal nature of the business.”●

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TSL’s HY profitability weakens on late tobacco selling season

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BH24 Reporter

HARARE - Electrical retail and engineering concern Powerspeed Electrical today reported a drop in profita-bility for the half year ended March 31, 2016.

Profit after tax came down to $161 595 from $392 827 in the prior comparable period.

This was after operating profit went up to $5,6 million compared with $5,2 million while finance costs increased to $450 393 from $381 150.

Cost of sales also went up to $15 million up from $14 million. Management said the erosion of the gross margin from 29,7 percent to 27,6 percent, was a result of the group ‘purchasing’ market share.

Expenses also increased as a result of branch network enhancement. In terms of the trading (retail) opera-tion, management said the current economic challenges were having a significant negative impact on consumer spending and therefore on

throughput in the group’s stores.

Management said the engi-neering division was affected by the continued general decline in agriculture, con-struction, manufacturing and mining. It added that is con-sidering to exit the engineer-ing operation.

“Although there is demand for products and services, there is little funding availa-ble, and throughput was sig-nificantly down. As a result we have had no option but to

further reduce the resources allocated to our engineering operations. This conforms to our long-standing strategy to exit Engineering in the most cost effective manner,” said the group in a statement accompanying the results.

Going forward, the group will focus on maintaining the Electrosales Hardware brand and also to reduce expenses throughout the organisation. The board did not declare a dividend for the “given the relatively high level of bor-rowings”●

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Powerspeed Electrical’s HY profits drop

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HARARE - The mainstream industrial Index shed 7.79 (or 7, 47 percent) on a week-on-week basis, in a week dominated by losses.

And in today’s trades the index dropped 3.05 to settle at 96.51 as beverages giant Delta further lost $0,0458 to close at $0,5572.

Other losers were noted

in telecoms giant Econet, CBZ, OK Zimbabwe and conglomerate Innscor which moved $0,0005, $0,0100, $0,005 and $0,0198 down to $0,2300, $0,1000, $0,0300 and $0,1802 in that order.

On the upside, crocodile skin producer Padenga surged $0,0006 to close at $0,0756, while Old Mutual added $0,0164 to trade at $2,2677

and FBC added $0,0004 to $0,0644.

The mining index was flat at 26.24 as Bindura, Falgold, Hwange and RioZim were unchanged on previous price levels at $0,0120, $0,0050, $0,0300 and $0,1700, respectively. And the mining index added 0.47 (or 1,82 percent) from the previous week - BH24 Reporter ●

Industrials lose 7,47pc week-on-week

12 ZsE

MovERs CHANGE TodaY PrICE USC sHAKERs CHANGE TodaY PrICE USC

PADENGA 0.79 7.56 OK ZIM -14.28 3.00

OLD MUTUAL 0.72 226.77 INNSCOR -9.90 18.02

FBC 0.62 6.44 CBZ -9.09 10.00

DAIRIBORD -9.09 5.00

DELTA -7.59 55.72

FIDELITy LIFE -6.36 10.30

HIPPO -0.24 20.00

ECONET -0.21 23.00

INdEx PREvIoUs TodaY MovE CHANGE

INDUSTRIAL 99.56 96.51 -3.05 points -3.06%

MINING 26.24 26.24 +0.00 POINTS +0.00%

13 ZsE tABlEs

ZsE

INdICEs

Stock Exchange

Previous

today

14 dIarY oF EVENTS

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

PowER GENERAtIoN stAts

Gen Station

09 June 2016

Energy

(Megawatts)

Hwange 586 MW

Kariba 557 MW

Harare 20 MW

Munyati 18 MW

Bulawayo 24 MW

Imports 0 - 400 MW

Total 1490 Mw

15 JUNE 2016 -- rainbow Tourism Group 7th annual General Meeting; Time: Jacaranda rooms 2 and 3 at the rainbow Tourism Hotel and Conference Centre, 1 Pennefather avenue, Samora Machel avenue West, Harare; Time: 1200 hours...

16 JUNE 2016 -- rioZim 60th annual General Meeting; Place: No. 1 Kenilworth road, Highlands, Harare; Time: 10.30 hours...

22 JUNE 2016 -- Zimre Holdings Limited 18th annual General Meeting; Place: NICoZdIaMoNd auditorium, 7th Floor Insur-ance Centre, 30 Samora Machel avenue, Harare; Time: 1430 hours...

22 JUNE 2016 -- GB Holdings Limited annual General Meeting; Place: Cernol Chemicals Boardroom, 111 dagenham road, Wil-lowvale, Harare; Time: 11.30 hours...

23 JUNE 2016 -- Zimpapers 89th annual General Meeting; Place: Zimpapers Ltd Boardroom, Sixth Floor Herald House, Cnr. G. Silundika/Sam Nujoma Street, Harare; Time: 1200hrs…

24 JUNE 2016 -- dawn Properties annual General Meeting; Place: Great Indaba room, at the Monomotapa Hotel, 54 Parklane, Harare on Friday; Time: 10:00 hours...

THE BH24 dIarY

MAPUto - Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi on Thursday fired Finance Min-ister Adriano Maleiane, who has been embroiled in more than two weeks of negotia-tions with Russia's VTB Bank over a late $178 million loan repayment.

A statement from Nyusi's office gave no reason for the dismissal and did not say who would be replacing Maleiane.

Mozambique Asset Manage-ment (MAM) borrowed $535 million from VTB to build shipyards in the capital Maputo and the northern town of Pemba in expec-tation of a rapid takeoff in the offshore gas sector but missed a May 23 deadline for its first loan repayment.

Restructuring the loan, updating business plans and bringing strategic partners on board were all possible ways to avoid a default on

the debt, Maleiane said on Wednesday.

Delays to gas projects and at least $1.35 bill ion of secret government borrow-ing have created a foreign debt burden that threatens to plunge one of the world's poorest countries into eco-nomic crisis.

Financial watchdogs from Switzerland and Britain are investigating Credit Suisse and VTB Bank for arrang-ing the heavy undisclosed sovereign borrowing - Reu-ters●

15

rand slips as growth concerns, US rates weighMozambique president dismisses finance

minister

Adriano Maleiane

REGIoNAl NEws

JoHANNEsBURG -The rand weakened on Friday as the dollar bounced back from recent weakness, adding pressure further pressure on South Africa's currency following a string of poor growth figures.

By 0645 GMT the rand was 0,35 percent weaker at 14,8600 per dollar, down from an overnight high of 14,7950 as it drifted fur-ther away from technical resistance around 14,6000.

Bonds inched firmer in early trade, with the bench-mark government issue due in 2026 cutting 0.5 basis points to 9,045 percent.

Stocks were set to open lower on the Top-40 when trade resumed at 0700 GMT, with JSE securities exchange's futures index down 0,11 percent.

The rand was already on the back foot after data

earlier in the week showed the economy had con-tracted 1,2 percent in the first quarter, and contin-ued to dive as the mining output in April continued to shrink according to figures published Thursday.

Traders said the currency, along with its emerging market peers, was likely to remain subdued ahead of a US Federal Reserve mon-etary policy meeting next week.

"Now that the local markets have weathered the recent ratings agency activity, the focus now shifts to the FOMC next week," analysts at Nedbank said in a note.

"Although any expectations regarding interest changes have dissipated post last week's jobs data."

- Reuters●

European stocks fell, set for their longest losing streak in more than a month, as banks led declines and investors braced for monetary-policy and political events later this month.

Bankia SA and Banco Santander SA slipped at least 2,6 percent, leading a gauge of lenders to the worst performance among industry groups. Carmakers also fell, with PSA Peugeot Citroen down 1,4 percent after a report that 10 members of the Peugeot family may con-sider boosting their holding

in the company.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index lost 1 percent at 8:27 a.m. in London. The benchmark kicked off this week with gains amid a rally in oil shares and optimism the Federal Reserve won’t raise rates prematurely, only to reverse direction mid-week as global-growth concern resurfaced. It’s on track for a second weekly drop, down 0,9 percent.

Investors are awaiting the Fed’s rate decision on June 15, a referendum on June 23

that will determine Britain’s membership in the European Union, and Spain’s general election three days after that. While the European Central Bank began buying corporate bonds this week, traders are skeptical it will succeed in stimulating eco-nomic growth.

The Stoxx 600 has struggled to maintain momentum in a rebound after surging 16

percent from its February low to an April 20 high. It has traded in a range of less than 25 points since March, and is stil l down 7,6 percent for the year.

Among other shares active on corporate news, Deutsche Lufthansa AG dropped 4,5 percent after announcing the surprise departure of Chief Financial Officer Simone Menne - Bloomberg●

16

European stocks decline for third day, deepening weekly retreat

Twitter Inc. said some of its accounts were locked to prevent potential disclosures from hacks of other websites that may have leaked login credentials on the internet.

Users whose accounts may be vulnerable were notified and told they must reset their passwords to gain access to the social mes-saging service, Twitter said Thursday in a blog post from Michael Coates, trust and information security officer.

“In each of the recent pass-word disclosures, we cross-checked the data with our records,” Coates said in the post. “As a result, a num-ber of Twitter accounts were identified for extra protec-tion.”

In the post, Coates said the company is “confident the information was not obtained from a hack of Twitter’s servers.”

– Bloomberg●

INtERNAtIoNAl NEws

Twitter says some accounts locked after password disclosures

Attempts to talk seriously about the undemocratic nature of the European Union are consistently side-lined.

By John King

The so-called debate on the UK’s membership of the Euro-pean Union has been stuck on trade and immigration for months now, with the same arguments knocked back and forwards, and channelled by a lazy media, but the reality is that if the UK votes for inde-pendence on 23 June there will be no great economic collapse and people will come and go as they have done across the centuries. There will be adjustments, but nothing com-pared to the trauma we face if we stay in. These issues are distractions from the most important question, which is where the EU is heading.

The European Union is not static and what we vote for now is not what we will have to live with in one or two years’ time, let alone the

decades to come. The EU is a political structure and exists to create a single state, its tactics outlined by founding

father Jean Monnet: “Europe’s nations should be guided towards the superstate without their people understanding

what is happening. This can be accomplished by successive steps, each disguised as hav-ing an economic purpose, but

17 analysis17 aNaLYSIS

Why will no one talk about where the European Union is headed?

18 analysis18 aNaLYSIS

which will eventually and irre-versibly lead to federation.”

The EU’s mission is clearly stated, by one of its own, and while Monnet’s words are often quoted by those trying to refocus the argument for withdrawal, establishment bias means they are just as often dismissed. It is important to talk about this, but the refusal of the Remain side to engage destroys any attempt at hon-est discussion. A trade deals does not need a president, an anthem, a flag, a currency, a parliament, the ability to make law, tens of billions of pounds of donations, its own paramili-tary police force.

Neither does it need to plan an army. The nature of this body is there in the suffering of Greece, Italy and Spain, where debt is used to strip back services and enforce aus-terity and privatisation. David Cameron and George Osborne are enacting smaller versions of this, which is why they are doing everything they can to

keep Britain inside the EU.

Attempts to talk seriously about the undemocratic nature of the European Union are consistently sidelined, some of its apologists openly questioning the importance of sovereignty and, thereby, the worth of an electorate. For anyone who genuinely believes in democracy, this is impossi-ble to accept, and shows the depths to which our political class has sunk. No organisa-tion gives up its power without a fight, but there are less and less ways to confront the EU, which is going to become increasingly arrogant and unaccountable in the coming years. When challenged about its mistakes, Brussels does not apologise, but instead demands more control.

If we stay in the EU, the battle to leave will intensify. Anyone who thinks otherwise is seri-ously mistaken. If the margin is narrow, the backlash will be immediate, fuelled by numbers and a surge of anger, as the

referendum has been unfair and the government has not been impartial.

Few people have any real affection for the EU, but many will be swayed by the scare-mongering as they are afraid of losing their jobs and homes, while others will choose to protect subsidies we in effect pay ourselves. Fear and a form of bribery is going to distort the vote.

The rich and powerful will of course look after themselves, and they are the ones the EU benefits.

What is amazing is that after all the years of sarcasm and smears, when anyone who dared speak out against the EU was branded racist, fascist, anarchist, a socialist/commu-nist nutter or just plain boring, millions of ordinary citizens are still set to reject the state’s propaganda.

This reflects the split between those in positions of control and the wider population, a

division that is only going to worsen if we do not leave the EU. The referendum offers us the chance to make a clean break.

We should not be afraid of life outside the EU. An independ-ence vote would be a kick in the teeth for those in power, a major shock to a party-po-litical system that has refused to represent the views of the people.

We would be choosing democ-racy and the decentralising of power, and such a show of confidence could energise the nation. The direction of our society will be fought over, and we have big problems to confront, but a negative influ-ence will have been removed and our destiny would be in our own hands. With the establishment humiliated, a better sort of politics might even emerge. We should be positive, embrace change and choose an exciting future.

– Newstatesman●