ART Holdings board chairman, Thomas Wushe
LISTED manufacturing group, Amalgamated Regional Trading Holdings (Art), expects to have a good year, with forecast revenue of $40 million, regardless of economic circumstances in the country, board chairman, Thomas Wushe has said.
Speaking to The Financial Gazette on the sidelines of the company’s annual general meeting on Tuesday, Wushe said the group expected to have a good financial performance in 2018 regardless of the operating environment.
He said the company performed well last year despite the tough conditions and this trend was expected to continue even if the conditions persist. He said the group would do even better if the operating environment improved. “The group is resilient. In the face of the current challenges, we have been doing well and expect to do well even if difficulties persist. However, if the operating environment improves, we expect to do even better,” Wushe said.
In January, the group reported “improved production efficiencies” and increased sales volumes, posting a profit before tax of $4 million for the year ended September 30, 2017, up 76 percent from 2016 figures.
Profit after tax was reported at $2,75 million for 2017 from $1,92 million in 2016. Group revenues were at $33,5 million, up 13 percent from $29,8 million in 2016.
Group chief executive, Milton Macheka, said the group expected revenues of between $39 million and $40 million this year, representing an increase of between 16 and 20 percent from 2017.
He said the group was currently ahead of revenue targets and was set to reach projections for the year.
“Full year revenue projection for the year is between $39 million and $40 million. The group is ahead of revenue targets for the first half of the year and full year profit projections are on course to be met,” Macheka said.
Macheka said the group’s revenues since September 30, 2017 amounted to $14,5 million, up 39 percent from $10,4 million recorded during the comparable period in 2017.
He said the improvements resulted in higher volumes across all units, with the support of some price increases in some instances.
The group’s good performance in 2017 was buoyed by foreign currency shortages in the country.
The group’s batteries division, which contributes significantly to the group’s earnings, benefited from statutory protection and foreign currency shortages which restrained imports.
“The battery division benefited from the impact of Statutory Instrument 20 of 2016 and the foreign currency challenges which limited battery imports,” Wushe said in a statement accompanying the group’s financial results for the year ended September 30, 2017.
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