GB Holdings banks on refurbishments

RUBBER and chemicals specialists, General Beltings (GB Holdings), is expecting its plant refurbishments to eliminate 70 percent of its lost production time.
GB Holdings’ chairman, Godfrey Nhemachena, told The Financial Gazette that 80 percent of the company’s lost production through plant breakdown was emanating from its boilers, hence the decision to dismantle and refurbish them.
“We took a deliberate move to dismantle our boilers and refurbish them so they are virtually new. That effort should be able to eliminate as much as 70 percent of our lost production time.
“We also lost time because of the electricity supply but barring that, due to the condition that our boilers were in, we were losing significant time. We are optimistic that as we go forward, we should be able to recover ground and bring our performance back on track as planned,” Nemachena said at the company’s recent annual general meeting.
During the first quarter to March 31, 2023, the company posted a 40 percent decrease in total volumes to 206 metric tonnes from 342 metric tonnes recorded in the prior quarter, as the debilitating power outages significantly affected production.
“The quarter was constrained by dampened local aggregate demand, while increased dollarisation encouraged imports at the expense of local industry. Further, the debilitating power shortages significantly affected production and increased the cost of production as resources had to be matched with load-shedding schedules.
“Total volumes for the quarter at 206 metric tonnes were 40 percent lower than the 342 metric tonnes recorded in the same period the prior year. The rubber division volumes, at 113 metric tonnes, were five percent shy of the prior year’s corresponding period volumes,” GB Holdings’ company secretary Patrick Munyanyi said.
“The chemicals division volumes at 93 metric tonnes were 58 percent lower than the same period prior year volumes, which included residual Covid-19 business. As a result, the operating profit is 19 percent lower than the same period the prior year.”
On the outlook, GB said efforts to improve power supply will enable the rubber division to convert its strong order book and further meet new business given the anticipated growth in the mining sector.
The company also expects the chemicals division to improve on the back of expected growth in the tourism and agricultural sectors together with the relaxation of contractionary measures.
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