Radar in 125% profit increase

Bulawayo-based Radar Holdings saw its profit available for distribution increase by 125 percent from $7.7 million in the six months to December 1997 to $17.3 million during the same period last year but in US dollar terms the increase was only 12.5 percent up.

But the company which says, the country is edging closer to the abyss and for many Zimbabweans a sense of deep disquiet has given way to downright disgust, clings, precariously, to the view that sanity will ultimately prevail.

“For all the weaknesses in the national balance sheet, one asset remains intact; the people of Zimbabwe. It is an asset unparalleled on the continent,” the company says.

In its divisional analysis, the company says United Builders Merchants (UBM) traded aggressively and exceeded every previous milestone in the division’s history in terms of sales and operating profits.

Hogarths also operated at a higher level than has been the case for years while MacDonalds is planning to expand into the regional market.

Radar Castings experienced problems from two furnaces sourced from the United Kingdom but progress is now under way but it is likely to be affected by an increase in power costs.

Radar Metal Industries also traded aggressively and it has a strong order book.

Copperwares benefited from the devaluation of the local currency but its figures were not meaningful in the context of the overall group.

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