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Elton Manguwo
AMALGAMATED agriculture Zimbabwe Stock Exchange listed company TSL Limited has recorded a revenue increase of 61 percent in inflation adjusted terms for the trading quarter ended 31 July 2022 on account of a firmer market price for tobacco.
“Despite the national tobacco volumes decreasing by three percent to 194 million kilogrammes, the group handled 23, 1 million kilogrammes of tobacco against a 24, 3 million kilogrammes the previous season amounting to a three percent decline,” group secretary, Ms Fadzayi Pedzisayi observed.
The group’s tobacco auctioneering subsidiary Tobacco Sales Floors (TSF) was able to offset the groups revenue as a result of a 10 percent increment on the tobacco selling price of US$3, 05 compared to US$2, 80 for the same period last season.
The company remains committed to expanding its market share through maximum production by effective utilisation of the contract farming system.
Ms Pedzisayi noted that the group’s strategy to serve the much larger contracted farming was yielding fruits with 62 percent of the total volumes handled coming from the contract segment.
Moreover, in the wake of intensified calls by the Government for strategic companies to decentralise operations in line with the devolution agenda, the group opened a new auction floor in Mvurwi that accounted for 31 percent of all tobacco volumes handled at the floor.
To add on, the new high quality and competitively priced tobacco paper that was rolled out late last year has seen a 24 percent growth of market uptake despite the Propak hessian paper volumes sinking by 15 percent compared to the same period last season due to lower sales volumes.
Ms Pedzisayi also highlighted that the high inflationary operating environment that rocked operations saw inflation skyrocketing to 256 percent from 96,4 recorded in April.
“Even in the face of high inflation, operations have remained profitable and the group continues to prioritise the preservation and creation of shareholder value”, she added in the trading update for the fourth quarter.
In light of the newly introduced gold coins that are mopping out liquidity, the group continues to keep track of its investments in the local currency.
The company also guaranteed stakeholders that notwithstanding the disruptions in the global supply chain, it will still be positioned to serve farmers for the forthcoming summer cropping season.
This is despite the stark reality that its Agricura business unit experienced a lukewarm performance for the recorded period as a result of depleted stocks.
TSL is an integrated and intelligent handler of all movements in the agriculture value chain. The group provides comprehensive solutions in the agriculture industry from seed to shelf with inputs and packaging.
Online Reporter