Zimbabwe’s second-largest supermarket chain OK Zimbabwe (OKZ.ZI) said it posted $187.5 million in sales in the year to March, buoyed by a recovering economy after last year’s formation of a unity government.
The unity government of President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai replaced the worthless Zimbabwe dollar with multi-currencies last year, stimulating economic activity, which resulted in the first GDP growth in a decade.
Local companies have started to reorganise their operations and OK Zimbabwe said in a statement it expected low disposable incomes to rise, which would increase its sales further.
Investec Asset Management, a unit of South African bank Investec (INLJ.J), bought into OK Zimbabwe in March after extending a $5 million convertible loan and underwriting the firm’s $15 million rights issue.
OK, Zimbabwe’s second-largest supermarket chain by assets and number of stores, said operating profit amounted to $2.5 million while overhead expenditure stood at $27.8 million, driven by high staff and maintenance costs.
The company did not provide figures for the previous year, when results were still denominated in the Zimbabwe dollar.
Reuters
