Farai Mabeza, Senior Staff Writer 
AFRICAN Distillers (Afdis) says its spirits category grew by 19 percent benefitting from a focus on the affordable market segment, as the business seeks to regain share from cheaper and illicit products.
In a trading update for the third quarter ended December 31, 2022, the wine and spirits maker reported overall volume growth of 10 percent for the quarter and 11 percent for the nine months compared to prior year.
“Wine volume grew by 16 percent mainly driven by locally produced brands despite intense competition from imports. Ready to Drink (“RTD”) volumes only grew by three percent due to stock supply gaps caused by power outages and regional bottle shortages,” Afdis said.
Revenue for the quarter grew by 29 percent and 39 percent for the nine months in inflation adjusted terms over last year, while in historical terms it increased by 355 percent for the quarter and 360 percent for the nine months.
“The operating environment is envisaged to remain unstable …., management has put in place measures to exploit available opportunities to sustain market share, revenue and profitability growth.”
Revenue for the quarter grew by 29 percent and 39 percent for the nine months in inflation adjusted terms over last year, while in historical terms it increased by 355 percent for the quarter and 360 percent for the nine months.
This was attributed to the increased sales volumes. Afdis highlighted that the economic environment continued to present impediments that constrained business operations.
“Liquidity constraints in ZWL and power supply outages impacted negatively on operations and consequently on the ability to fully supply the market.
“Measures taken by the authorities resulted in a relatively stable foreign currency exchange rate in the quarter,” Afdis said.
“The business witnessed a significant increase in foreign currency transactions which aided in the funding of foreign supplies.”
This comes after Afdis last November reported a surge in half-year profit for the year ended September 30, 2022, also benefiting from firm demand despite an adverse operating environment.
The country’s biggest maker and distributor of spirits’ profit increased by 233 percent to $584,49 million from $175,15 million recorded in the prior period.
Afdis reported then that it had to focus on business viability through good cost management throughout the value chain.
The company said it would continue to focus on product innovation, market share growth, production efficiencies and cost containment measures
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