By Stephen Chandisareva
HARARE – CFI Holdings, a diversified group, said on Thursday that its historical turnover for the 5 months to February 2024 rose more than eightfold to $286.5 billion despite the challenging operating environment.
The market is characterised by depressed consumer spending owing to inflationary pressures that are eating into people’s pockets.
Of the group turnover, retail operations contributed 66.23% followed by Victoria Foods at 23.24%. Agrifoods and Glenara accounted for 7% and 2.93% respectively.
“During the period, aggregate demand continued to decline, impacted by inflationary pressures, ultimately forcing prices of goods and services to go up in real terms as the Zimbabwe dollar continued to weaken against the United States,” acting chief executive officer Shingi Chibanguza told shareholders attending the company’s annual general meeting.
“Further to the reduced spending power, sales through the retail division, which has agricultural products as its mainstay, were adversely impacted by the poor and inconsistent rainfall throughout the period.”
As expected due to inflationary pressures in the market, expenses went up 827%.