US dollar revenue buoys Masholds

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PROPERTY firm Mashonaland Holdings (Masholds) says the group is in a position to continue generating US dollar revenue despite the economic headwinds.
This comes as Zimbabwe’s market continues to witness marked disparities in the pricing of goods and services depending on the currency of settlement, with an increasing number of transactions being settled in foreign currency.

“…when we were analysing our financial performance for 2021, what we saw is that 25 percent was coming from tenants paying us in US dollars, so we have intended to gradually increase that over the course of the year, with that figure coming up to 54 percent last year and we are seeing a continuous increase,” the group’s chief finance officer, Kuda Musundire, said during an analysts briefing.
“Going into 2023, we have money from the Mashview Gardens that has not been earned, so we will be seeing that also coming through. I think we are in a situation where we will be able to continue generating revenue in US dollars.”
Musundire added that there is some evident US dollar inflation in the country as inputs prices have risen.
“Indeed it is correct we are seeing US$ inflation if we were to compare the prices of inputs that would go into the construction of a standard house today compared to what it was when we started the Mashview Gardens project.”
In its full year results for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022, board chairperson Grace Bema said the property market continues to evolve for survival in response to the headwinds in the economy.
“The incessant macro-economic challenges have seen some sectors within the property market failing to provide an automatic hedge against inflation.
“The ability to hedge, however, shifts between different sub-sectors as economic conditions and structural factors come into play,” Bema said.
As of December 31, 2022, the group’s investment properties were valued at $68 billion, representing a 39 percent capital gain for the year.
According to Bema, the capital gains were achieved through the group’s periodic rent reviews to hedge against rising inflation and the firming values of Masholds’ strategically located land banks.
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