Radar Holdings revises turnover figures

US$53 million to US$43 million following the disposal of loss its loss-making unit, UBM.
Group turnover for the four months to October amounted to US$14 million, which was about US$3 million less than the projected revenue.
Group chief executive Mr Elias Hwenga, giving a trade update at the company’s annual general meeting recently, said profitability is expected to improve with the hardware business expected to contribute significantly.
Radar’s revenue for the year ended June 2011 was US$37 million against the period comparative of US$24,9 million.
The group was targeting US$40 million in revenues for the year to June 2011. The increase in revenues was mainly attributed to an increase in sales volumes across all business.
A new plant was installed in July while the second one arrived during the first week of December.
About 730 hectares of timber had been lost due to fire but the group had embarked on a replanting exercise.
UBM was sold to a management consortium for an undisclosed sum.
Radar wholly owned UBM, which is among the country’s leading building materials suppliers.
For the year ended June 30, 2011, UBM suffered an operating loss of US$3,3 million faced with many challenges including stock pilferage and poor credit control resulting in stock and debtors write-offs.
The business had not been able to restock at the correct levels since the introduction of the multiple-currency system in 2009.
This has been largely attributed to the unavailability of appropriate funding at competitive interest rates.
During the four months, the group said the MacDonald Bricks plant had been affected by power cuts amounting to 676 hours or 2,7 million bricks. A dedicated power line had been installed even though at a premium.
Radar has secured a seven-year offshore facility at 8 percent.
Radar owns 51 percent of Border Timbers, that is listed separately on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange.
It also owns 100 percent of McDonalds Bricks and associated clay mines located outside Bulawayo.