By ETimes
Mashonaland Holdings swung back to full-year profit on Friday and said it will continue to focus on boosting operational effectiveness and portfolio diversification.
The group saw an annual inflation-adjusted profit of $17.2 billion, compared to a loss of $4.8 billion in 2021.
“The improved performance was due to the improved operating profitability and 39% capital gain recorded on investment properties,” group chairperson, Grace Bema said in a statement accompanying the financials for the year ended 31 December 2022.
The yearly revenue rose from $1.9 billion to $3.8 billion, an increase of 98%.
“The revenue growth was mainly driven by revenue earned from the Mashview Gardens cluster housing development amounting to $1.2billion, which contributed 30% of the revenue performance.”
Despite the comparable period being longer due to the change in financial year end in 2021, rental income climbed by 34% to $2.6 billion, which also helped to improve revenue performance.
“The increase in rental income was driven in part by periodic rent reviews to align rentals with obtaining market conditions and also improved occupancy which grew from 81% in 2021 to 87% in December 2022,” Bema said.
From $1 billion to $3.5 billion, operating profit before fair value adjustments increased by 243%.
“The increase in operating profit was partly due to foreign exchange gains of ZW$3billion which were realized on foreinn currency balances on hand following disposal of Charter House. Consequently, the Group’s operating profit margin increased from 53% to 93% in 2022.”
Bema said the group has not been spared from the effects of currency distortions in the market.
“The market continues to witness marked disparities in the pricing of goods and services depending on the currency of settlement, with an increased number of transactions being settled in foreign currency,” Bema said.
“These market dynamics present cost-push pressures which require the Group to continue to focus on increasing efficiencies while pursuing Its portfolio diversification strategy.”
It declared a final dividend of $212.40 million. A component in the amount of $200,000 will be paid in foreign currency.
MASH closed its last trading day (Thursday) at $10.62 per share on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, recording a 3.4% drop from its previous closing price of $11.00 – Harare