Meikles earns $59.5 billion in exchange gain

Meikles Africa, which runs three world class hotels which are all among the leading hotels of the world had an excellent first half to September with sales improving by 470 percent almost a 100 percentage points above average inflation for the period which stood at 379 percent.

Its turnover improved from $22.2 billion to $126.4 billion. Operating profit shot up from $2.6 billion to $19.3 billion.

An exchange gain of $59.5 billion saw profit before tax rocket to $78.2 billion up from $6.9 billion last year with profit attributable to shareholders increasing more than tenfold from $5.9 billion to $68 billion.

The company says though inflation reached 456 percent in September, negative interest rates had propelled consumptive spending.

Demand for goods in its retail divisions, which include leading chain stores, Meikles, and exclusive stores like Greatermans and Barbours, as well as Clicks and TM Supermarkets, was quite strong.

Its hotel division, which comprises Meikles Hotel in Harare and Victoria Falls Hotel where it is a partner to Zimsun as well as The Cape Grace, also performed well.

The Zimbabwe hotels had reduced occupancies but turnover and profit increased because a large proportion of the revenue is paid in foreign currency.

The Cape Grace had a different problem. It had a low season largely because of the strengthening rand. There was also a decline in travel because of the war in Iraq and the SARS virus scare.

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