admin
Business Reporter
CONSTRUCTION firm Masimba Holdings says it has a firm order book with tenures of between six to eighteen months spread over roads, earthworks, mining and energy sectors.
Masimba is among the leading construction firms in the country that have been awarded contracts by the Government to upgrade and rehabilitate various roads that include the Beitbridge-Masvingo highway.
The Government under the phased road rehabilitation programme, pledged $33,6 billion for road upgrading and maintenance works while the mining sector in its quest to become a US$12 billion industry by 2023 has several capital projects worth over US$2 billion.
The company in a trading update for the quarter to March 31, 2023 said revenue volumes were ahead of the comparable period by 18 percent, driven by a strong and firm order book.
“Profitability in the period remained stable owing to cost containment strategies being implemented by the group,” the company said.
“It said capital expenditure incurred in the period under review amounted to US$2 783 773 compared to US$3 571 713 in 2022. The group’s liquidity position was satisfactory.”
However, Masimba said execution of the order book may be negatively impacted by the prevailing volatility in the current macro environment.
The company said the macro-economic environment is forecast to remain constrained on the back of a contractionary fiscal policy and continued pricing distortions emanating from exchange rate disparities in the market.
“We implore the authorities to urgently implement corrective measures to restore economic stability in the market,” said the company.
The company added that the use of multiple and ‘uncontrollable’ alternative market exchange rates in the economy has contributed to the deterioration of inflation levels which continues the status quo and has the potential of threatening the viability of long-term infrastructure developments.
However, the government has since introduced some stabilisation measures to address the resurgence of macro-economic instability, with domestic inflation being driven primarily by the skewed preference for US dollars as a savings currency.
As part of stabilisation measures announced by the government recently, both digital and physical gold coins have witnessed significant uptake.
According to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) pricing of the gold-backed digital tokens in foreign currency shall remain the same as the pricing model of the physical gold coins whilst payment for the gold-backed digital tokens or physical gold coins in Zimbabwe dollar shall remain at the current 20 percent margin above the interbank mid-rate.
The central government said through the RBZ shall continue to assure public confidence in both instruments by ensuring that at all times, Gold coins and gold backed digital tokens remain fully backed by physical gold reserves.
Online Reporter