Zimplow revenue up 25 percent in four months

Zimplow Holdings revenue for the 4 months to April 2018 is 25 percent above budget and above last year also while its Farmec and Barzem, loss makers in recent times, have swung back into profit.

Chief executive Mark Hulett told shareholders at the group’s annual general meeting that all business units are responding to the aggressive effort to grow the top line.

“All our business units have been profitable, with Farmec performing better than the rest and well ahead of last year. All other units, except Mealie Brand have performed ahead of last year for the first 4 months period under review,” he said.

Volumes at Farmec are 76 percent ahead of last year while hours sold, boosted by command agricultural programme, increased 46 percent.

At Mealie Brand, volumes were down seven percent as the unit focused on containing costs and boosting production to meet demand for both local and export markets.

As a result, local implements sales, which are 18 percent behind last year in the first four months of the year, are expected to recover as the year progresses.

The unit has also renewed thrust to produce hoes, with sales of the implements rising by 81 percent in the period.

At Barzem, revenues are 16 percent ahead of last year with parts sales 150 percent up from the same period last year. Service hours sold also grew 46 percent as the unit utilised its foreign currency capacity.

CT Bolts sold 70.3 tonnes of milled steel bolts which was a 3 percent growth on the same period last year. Nail sales also improved eight percent but high tensile bolts were 3 percent down as the unit struggled to penetrate the informal market owing to the shortages of hard cash.

Powermec saw a modest growth in generator unit sales which rose 14 percent on last year while service hours grew 89 percent.

Hulett said company anticipates finishing the year on a strong footing through maintaining the growth momentum across operations. –The Source

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