Cresta group's facelift goes regional

FRASER MPOFU
Correspondent | Friday March 23, 2007 00:00

 

'The first phase is done now.  In Botswana, work is almost completed on Cresta President in Gaborone. We'll be going to Cresta Rileys in Maun and Cresta  Thapama in Francistown soon,' he said. Cresta Hospitality is a wholly owned subsidiary of TA Holdings Ltd. It owns and operates, or operates under a management contract, a total of fifteen hotels - four of which are in Zimbabwe, eight in Botswana, one in Malawi, one in Ghana and one in Zambia.

Cresta hotels and lodges offer a variety of three-, four- or five-star accomodation, strategically situated in key areas of the towns and cities in which they have a presence.
Other hotels and lodges it runs in Botswana are the Mowana Safari Lodge (Kasane), Cresta Marang (Francistown), Cresta Bosele (Selebi-Phikwe), Cresta Botsalo  (Palapye) and Cresta Lodge in Gaborone.

In Zimbabwe, the group owns Cresta Jameson (Harare), Cresta Oasis (Harare), Cresta Lodge (Harare) and Cresta Churchill (Bulawayo); while in Malawi the group owns Cresta Crossroads in Lilongwe. There is Cresta Royale Hotel in Accra, Ghana and Cresta Lion Camp in Zambia's South Luangwa National Park.

In addition to the hospitality sector, TA Holdings has interests in the insurance industry.
In its latest financial results for the year ended last December, the group registered a 3 837 percent in profit from Z$651 million (P16, 2 million) in 2005 to Z$26 billion (P650 million).

The hotel division contributed significantly to TA Holdings' impressive performance, owing largely to room occupancy that rose from 41 percent in 2005 to 43 percent last year.
The group's insurance sector realised technical profits apart from Lion Assurance of Uganda. Group revenue was 2 630 percent higher last year than the previous year, up from Z$1, 9 billion (P47, 5 million) to Z$53 billion (P1, 3 billion), mainly due to basic earnings per share which spiralled by 3 6 89 percent.

Despite grim economic problems in Zimbabwe, companies operating in that market contributed 62 percent to aggregate revenue. This, however, is a marked decline from 82 percent recorded in the previous year.

Last year, TA Holdings' regional operations contributed 38 percent of group revenue.
Meanwhile, ABC Holdings, another giant with Zimbabwean roots, posted good results last year.  Attributable profits went up 60 percent from P58 million to P93 million.

In a statement accompanying the financial group's 2006 results, group chairman Oliver Chidawu: 'It is pleasing to note that with the exception of ABC Tanzania, which recorded a small attributable loss of P13 000, all banking operations recorded profits in 2006, a good indication that the group is now poised to deliver sustainable future earnings for the stakeholders. Botswana, Mozambique and Zambia doubled their earnings in 2006 in comparison to 2005'.

The balance sheet grew by 37 percent from P1, 9 billion by the end of 2005 to P2, 6 billion by the end of last year.