Harare - Tills are chiming at Zimbabwe quick serve restaurants, with revenues from the Harare-listed Simbisa Brands’ fast foods counters that include Nando’s, Steers and Chicken Inn topping $67 million (R917m) in the nine months to June.
The company said revenue from African markets including Ghana, Kenya, Zambia, the DRC and Mauritius amounted to $41m.
Chief executive officer Basil Dionisio said the company had set its sights on the rest of the African market to drive future growth.
“We are growing in-store coverage. In the past financial year alone, our net growth in counters was 56 across all our markets taking store count to 414,” said Dionisio.
The company said it opened seven new stores in Zimbabwe, 13 in Mauritius and 17 in Kenya.
The company, which also runs Galitos outlets, declared a 0.24 cents dividend per share after basic earnings per share rose 0.56 cents.
After tax profit for the period stood at $3m and executives are focusing on cost rationalisation and efficiencies to grow the profit base.
Simbisa has been able to secure borrowings from Zimbabwean finance institutions with only about $3m of its debts coming from regional financiers.
Finance director Salim Eceolaza said total borrowings for the period stood at $18.8m with most used for expansion.
It said African operations had been affected by currency depreciations while the Zimbabwe market suffered from declining disposable incomes, cash shortages and delays in salaries for both private and public workers.
Capitalising
Most South African companies - including food and grocery chains - are expanding away from home to capitalise on the opportunities the region offers.
However, Simbisa has chosen to expand into Africa and Dionisio said it would only go to “high value areas with immense potential” for growth.
“True growth is going to come from Africa as the opportunities for growth are vast in Africa
,” said Dionisio.
Simbisa has also switched on its platforms to enable customers to pay for meals and food using mobile money and has installed points of sale at its counters.
BUSINESS REPORT