Sefalana Holdings opened the second half of the year by brightening the faces of investors as it announced sterling profits, largely attributed to its consumer division, Sefalana’s Cash & Carry, the company said in its full year results.
The company closed its year on April 30, 2013 and the Cash & Carry division contributed 86 percent of revenue that was up to P 2.4 billion or 12 percent up.
The Cash & Carry division is composed of Sefcash made up of three Hyper stores, a chain of 25 Cash & Carry stores and 13 supermarkets that are sprawled across the country.
Out of a revenue of P 2.4 billion it ended up with a final profit of P 120 million which was 38 percent up compared to the corresponding period in the prior year.
“This growth has been predominately underpinned by improvements in our retail stores performances where we focused on the provision of a larger product range, improving quality of our service and understanding the market needs,” the company said in a statement.
Some of the factors that powered its performance included smarter procurement of raw material for its manufacturing division and better deal in its automotive business.
The performance of the group was against the global trends where most of the business operation were still having a hang-over of the long running global economic crisis that was sparked by the US’ sub-lending in the housing market.
Its Commercial Motors (Pty) also shrugged off the tough trading conditions as it has got better deals for its brands of cars. It is a dealer for MAN, Tata and Honda.
During the period under review its manufacturing division Foods Botswana (Pty) was awarded two big government tenders to supply Malutu and Tsabana.
“The supply for these contracts commenced in November 2012 following a two months break between contracts. Despite this delay in the commencement of production, profit before tax was double that of the previous year.
“ This was partly due to orders for additional volumes, but also because of the quality of the grain procured which resulted in a better than expected yield,” it said.
It also announced a dividend pay-out of 21 thebe per share which will be paid out on or about September 6, 2013.
