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Enacy Mapakame
Listed transport and logistics group – Unifreight Africa Limited says it has prepared itself to deal with the economic turbulence anticipated in the near future due to the effects of COVID 19 pandemic.
World over, businesses have been affected negatively by the outbreak of the pandemic which caused severe disturbances to business operations. Its effects are expected to be felt for some time as economies adjust and recover.
For Zimbabwe, the economy was already facing headwinds before the pandemic with challenges such as foreign currency shortages, fuel supply challenges, erratic electricity supply as well as waning disposable incomes due to inflationary pressures.
While Unifreight anticipates a bumpy road ahead, the group is also geared for survival going forward.
“We anticipate a very hard long road ahead and we are ready to adapt our business model to the inevitable changes that are coming,” said the group in a statement accompanying financials for the year to December 31, 2019.
“The Zimbabwean economy was already under extreme pressure before the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and now this has ravaged the global economy.
“Fortunately we were already prepared for the worst and have managed to survive the first onslaught quite well,” said Unifreight.
During the 2019 financial year historical group revenue of $136,3 million and net profit of $26,6 million (Inflation adjusted: $296,2 million and $3,8 million respectively) an increase of 400 percent and 2200 percent respectively on last year.
Although this was a good result according to Unifreight, this “forces us to acknowledge that the ZW$ figures are quite meaningless.”
Said the group: “More meaningful, is that in volume terms, our total tonnage in 2019 was only 13,8 percent down on prior year which is good, considering most business volumes were down more than 50 percent, this was partly by design and we were only 4,2 percent down on budget.
“Our internally calculated net profit in USD terms, translated to a healthy US$2,037 million net profit, with a very healthy net profit percentage of 17,2 percent vs an industry norm of +/- 7,5 percent.”
During the year under review, total assets rose 169 percent to $448 million in inflation adjusted terms compared to $166 million recorded in the previous year.
The sector has not been spared from the challenging business environment which saw operating costs balloon to $224 million from $143 million in the comparable year as prices of goods and services went up significantly during the year.
During the year under review, the country witnessed significant monetary and exchange control policy changes such as the introduction of the RTGS$ and the interbank foreign exchange market which had a bearing on businesses.
However, for Unifreight, the acquisition of new revenue earning equipment during the year had a positive impact on the group.
Formerly Pioneer Corporation Africa Limited, Unifreight was incorporated in Zimbabwe in 1970. It is the holding company of a group of companies primarily involved in the road transport industry whose main activities include inter-city freight consolidations, the distribution of general goods, and a courier service. Swift is the group’s principle revenue generating brand while other entities in the group are incorporated in Botswana.
The group declared a dividend of 7,04 cents a share.
Bongani Ndlovu