[2008-04-01]  Bata announces 100p.c. profits
ZAMBIA Bata Shoe Company has announced nearly 100 per cent growth in profits before taxation, and a 30 per cent turnover increase for 2007.

According to the company’s annual report for the 2007 financial year, profit before tax rose by 92 per cent from K2.6 billion in 2006 to K5.1 billion.

The shoe manufacturing firm recorded an increase in gross profits from K11.6 billion in 2006 to K15.3 billion in 2007.

The report states that turn over increased by 30 per cent from K26.8 billion in the previous year to K34.8 billion during the last financial year.

The company attributed the growth in both sales volumes and profitability to the sound merchandising policies that it implemented in the year and the transformation of its shops to internationally acceptable standards.

And the company has continued to enjoy improved business with mining firms in North-Western and Copperbelt provinces, who it was supplying most of the safety footwear, both on and off contract basis.

Chairman, Edwin Duthie stated in his annual report that the company was obliged to continue sourcing outside financing during the year under review.

“This means that the company remains in a tight cash-flow position and will pursue a carefully monitored budget in 2008,” he said.

To counter the growing competition it was facing in the market, the report states that Zambia Bata Shoe Company had continued with its expansion programme and had remodeled its chain of stores in Lusaka and Southern provinces, and would in 2008 focus on improving its outlets in the Copperbelt.


Source: © 2005 Times Printpak Limited.