Local leading brewer, Sechaba Brewery Holdings Limited, is set to release financial results lower than those reported for the half-year period ended June 2016.
A cautionary statement released by the group late last week state that its half-year results for the period ending July 2017 will be released on August 31, 2017 and that it will be “lower than that of the corresponding prior period”.
The listing requirements of the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) where Sechaba shares trade require listed entities to announce any likely or anticipated change to the financial results for the next reporting period.
Sechaba continues to blame the decline on the regulatory environment which it says has pushed guzzlers away from accessing the alcoholic beverages.
The listed investment company with holdings in Kgalagadi Breweries Limited (KBL) and a traditional beer unit continue to report a decline on both its operating profit and profit after tax.
Sechaba’s KBL operates under tough environment in which the alcohol tax has affected sales as elbow benders buy cheap imported fixes. The company said on 19 December 2014, the Levy on Alcoholic Beverages was increased by 5 percent, bringing the total levy to 55 percent.
Early this year, the group faced a possible expulsion from the stock exchange following its contravention of BSE’s section 3.21 of the listing requirements which deals with publication of financial results of listed entities.
The section requires all the listed companies to publish their annual financial result within three months of financial year end, a requirement that Sechaba and another local entity G4S Botswana failed to meet at the time.
Johan de Kok, Sechaba Holdings Managing Director, explained at the time that the company directors elected to delay the publication of financial statements so as to base the annual financial statements on the most credible and recent information available.
At the time, KBL received notice from The Coca-Cola Company that the Bottlers’ Agreement in accordance with which KBL produces products licensed to TCCC, will be terminated.
