African Sun to pump in $25 million into Monomotapa hotel expansion

Meanwhile, ASL managing director Edwin Shangwa said the group minimised its loss in the first five months of the year to $740 000 from $1.87 million in the comparable period last year.

“This is a clear indication that our cost reduction measures are paying off,” he said, adding expenses were down 17 percent.

Shangwa said the group had in the past year exited all operations outside Zimbabwe and closed loss-making ventures such as Amber Hotel in Ghana and Beitbridge Express.

A staff rationalisation exercise also reduced ASL’s workforce to 1 179 from 1 490.

A decline in arrivals mainly from South Africa due to the strengthening of the United States dollar against the Rand as well as a subdued domestic market saw revenues decline 23 percent to $14.09 million in the five months.

Revenue earned per available room (Rev Par) was down 17 percent to $34.

The group has reduced its debt to nearly $8 million from $17.4 million.

Shangwa said ASL would recover in the second half of the year which is traditionally its busiest period.

For the full year ended December 2015, ASL sank deeper in the red after posting an $8.7 million loss compared to a $2.3 million loss the previous year.

Some of the contributory factors to the widening loss were once off factors such as retrenchment packages and discontinued operations, Shangwa said.-The Source

(120 VIEWS)