[2008-09-12]  AICO Africa targets US$500m per annum
Newly-listed AICO Africa Limited said on Thursday it is targeting to earn US$500 million per annum in earnings over the next five to ten years in its quest to become a market leader in agro-industrial business. Group chief executive Mr. Happymore Mapara said this would be achieved by penetrating African markets and improving trade volumes into global markets. He was speaking at celebrations to mark the birth of AICO, which recently listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange in a reverse listing that resulted in the Cotton Company of Zimbabwe paving way for the group.” The group generates underlying revenues in excess of US$250 per annum and it is our ambition to at least double this over the next five to ten years," said Mr. Mapara. He said the immediate objectives were to exploit group synergies to expand into the continent.” This will no doubt, bring value to our stakeholders as efficiency, effectiveness and volumes in- prove.” The newly-created group, whose share price closed at Z$10 000 on Thursday, comprises of the Cotton Company of Zimbabwe and its subsidiary Exhort Enterprises (100 percent), Olivine (49 percent), Scotto (78 percent), Seed-Co (51 percent), Cottco International (100 percent), Zambrano Investments (100 percent) and Toray Knitting (100 percent). Mr. Mapara said the recent restructuring of the group would result in focused attention and improve operations of subsidiaries. "Overall, we would like to be a US$ 1 billion business by market capitalization over the same period of five to ten years




Source: ALLAFRICA