Turnall focuses on recapitalisation

TURNALL Holdings (Turnall) remains focused on its strategy to re-capitalise its factories, enhance production efficiencies and contain costs.
This comes as the construction materials manufacturer is currently investing in several projects, which are expected to be operational next year.
In a trading update for the quarter ended September 30, 2023, Turnall said the acquisition of one of its ongoing projects, a new sheeting plant for Harare, was at an advanced stage and this was expected to be commissioned by the third quarter of 2024.
“This will significantly reduce the cost of transporting products from Bulawayo, but more importantly, will lead to increased sales volumes and an uplift in profitability,” the group said.
Turnall said notable progress has been made towards the acquisition of a GRP pipe plant, which is to be commissioned in 2025.

The GRP pipe plant will assist in widening the group’s product offering and in capturing business in the very significant regional export market.
The group has also taken action to increase output and sales of roofing tiles and the acquisition of machine spares and new templates in early 2024 which will further support progress in growing the segment.
Considerable effort has been made on resuscitating Turnall’s fibre cement pipe business and the fruits of this effort are expected to have an impact in early 2024.
Turnall however, noted that power challenges pose a threat to the operations of the group and these must be addressed for performance to be optimised.
During the quarter under review, the group’s sales volumes declined from 9 132 tonnes to 8 526 tonnes, a seven percent decline compared to the same period last year.
“Business performance was negatively affected by product outages of roofing sheets owing to delays in the supply of the key raw material, fibre, due mainly to the impact of the war in Ukraine,” Turnall said.
“Building products, concrete products and AC Pipes contributed 53 percent and 46 percent and 1 percent of the sales volumes respectively.”
The group has, however, since secured alternative sources of fibre from Brazil to complement the existing fibre supplies and business operations are expected to normalise in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Besides the fibre supply challenges, trading activity was also affected by the liquidity crunch, low disposable incomes and price distortions prevailing in the economy.
Turnall business maintained favourable liquidity and gearing ratios during the quarter under review through the application of robust working capital strategies while trading in a multi-currency environment enabled the group to meet most of its foreign currency working capital requirements.
newsdesk@finga