30th Apr 2015 10:31
LONDON (Alliance News) - Zimbabwe and southern Africa-focused investment company Masawara PLC on Thursday said it swung to a pretax profit in 2014 on the back of a stake sale and a gain on its stake in conglomerate TA Holdings Ltd.
Masawara said its pretax profit in 2014 was USD16.1 million, compared to a USD10.8 million loss a year earlier, driven by a USD6.2 million profit on the sale of Masawara Energy Mauritius and a USD10 million gain made on the gain by its shareholding in TA Holdings.
The company's net asset value increased by 16% over the year to USD84.6 million from USD72.6 million a year earlier.
Masawara said the business environment in Zimbabwe has remained difficult, with the trend of tightening liquidity seen over the past two years continuing and the formal economy slowing. A number of businesses in Zimbabwe continue to face viability challenges and the frequency of business down-sizing and closure has increased.
Despite this difficult operating environment, the majority of the its investments in Zimbabwe are performing well and are maintaining and, in some cases, improving their market positions, the company said.
Shares in Masawara were untraded Thursday, having last traded at 47.00 pence.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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