Emmerson Njanjamangezi, Group Features Editor 
BORDER Timbers (BT) is seeking to recapitalise its plant equipment and machinery to raise production in a bid to meet the surging demand for lumber in the domestic and export market.
In a trading update for the quarter ended September 30, 2021, the timber processor said it is focusing on strengthening its balance sheet and profitability by improving its biological asset and the related value chains.
“Key focus is also on recapitalisation of the company’s sawmills so that they are equipped with modern machinery which results in high efficiency and profitability,” BT said.
For the period under review, BT said lumber production was broadly in line with prior year, while demand for lumber remained high both in the local market and the export market.
The company said treated poles saw an increase in production and sales volume compared to prior year, “owing to new marketing initiatives by the company which have seen market development within the region as well as the fading away of the adverse impacts of Covid-19 which has a significant effect on the pole business”.
On International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and judicial management, the timber processor said an extraordinary general meeting is to be arranged shortly to approve the split of the ICSID award and to appoint the new board of directors to allow the judicial manager to step down.
BT was placed under provisional judicial management in January 2015 and went into final judicial management in 2016 after failing to service its debts. The company’s exit from judicial management was anticipated last year but it would have depended on the settlement of an ongoing dispute with creditors over US$125 million awarded by the ICSID.
The company has undergone significant re-engineering since 2013 and has narrowed its focus to its core strength areas of forestry, sawmilling and treated pole production. The forestry division manages a total of five estates.
Three of these, Charter, Tilbury, and Sawerombe are in Chimanimani area to the south of Mutare, while Imbeza and Sheba estates are to the north in the Penhalonga area.
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