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By Hillary Munedzi
Zimbabwe’s leading hotel and leisure company, Meikles Group, managed to recoup lost revenue with the segment’s operations in Victoria Falls growing by 244% to ZWL1.3 billion from ZWL398 million in the reviewed financial announcement for the six months ending 30 September 2022.
African countries are having an influx of international tourists with major airlines expanding their business into the continent with holidaymakers planning trips to their favourite holiday resorts like Victoria Falls and Nyanga.
“The segment’s operations in Victoria Falls registered a strong recovery from COVID-19 disruptions to international tourism and travel. Room occupancy for the period under review grew from 12.9% to 32.5% and as a result, revenue was up 244% to ZWL1.3 billion. Profit for the period grew to ZWL1.0 billion from ZWL398 million in the previous year.
The completion of the first phase of the hotel refurbishment coincided with the rebound in international tourism”, said Meikles Chairman Mr. John Moxon.
The government allocated a US$20 million stimulus fund for the tourism sector to mitigate the impacts of the novel coronavirus and help to resuscitate the industry but the fund is still yet to be disbursed with supply chains disruptions adding to a myriad of pre-existing factors in the group’s retail sector TM Supermarkets trading as TM and PnP.
“The Group achieved commendable financial results for the six-month period ended 30 September 2022. These results were achieved under a challenging trading environment impacted by rising inflation, depreciating exchange rates, international supply chain disruptions as well as constricted local currency liquidity and high-interest rates during the latter part of the period.
Group revenue grew to ZWL129.3 billion (Last year: ZWL76.0 billion) representing a 70% increase for the period under review (In Historical cost terms, a growth of 422%). The growth was primarily due to a 15.46% increase in units sold, combined with price adjustments in the supermarkets’ segment, which makes up 99% of the Group’s revenue.
TM Supermarkets trading as TM and PnP Revenue for the period was ZWL127.8 billion (Previous period: ZWL76.2 billion). In historical cost terms, revenue grew by 414% to ZWL94.2 billion from ZWL18.3 billion in the previous year. Units sold grew by 38.53% during the first quarter of the period under review. In the last quarter, units sold declined by 4.40%, reducing the overall growth for the six months to 15.46%. The measures introduced by the authorities to curb rising inflation, starved the economy of ZWL liquidity leading to reduced customer spending,” said Mr. Moxon.
Profit before tax for the period amounted to ZWL8.2 billion, compared to ZWL5.1 billion achieved in the previous period. In historical cost terms, profit before tax grew by 507% to ZWL10.1 billion up from ZWL 1.7 billion in the previous period.