Sefalana expects profits to soar beyond P100m
Staff Writer | Friday January 18, 2019 12:16
The group whose retail wing, Sefalana Cash and Carry is growing rapidly in Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa, announced record high revenues and profits for the year ended April 30, 2018 of P4.8 billion and P231.7 million respectively. The group recently announced that its performance for the six months from the bumper profits to October 2018, would equally be strong.
“The board of Sefalana is pleased to announce that Sefalana’s group profit before tax for the six month period that ended October 31, 2018 will be between 15% - 25% higher than that reported for the comparative period ended October 31, 2017 which amounted to P83.1 million,” the group’s finance director, Mohamed Osman said in a Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) announcement to investors.
After a tumultuous 2017 financial year during which the group reported stressed profit margins as a result of challenging trading conditions in Botswana, Sefalana defied the odds by powering to bumper profits in 2018.
The group attributed the stronger performance to various innovative strategies, including cost saving and to leverage strengths across the non-retail division, including manufacturing, property and other trading.
Sefalana also benefited from improved performances in the regional footprint, which included the opening of the biggest specialised liquor warehouse in Lesotho and a R250 million investment into South Africa with guaranteed returns over the next five years. The diversified group says its focus going into 2019 and beyond is stronger regional expansion and growth.