OK Zimbabwe declares a final dividend

Published: 13 June 2013

OK Zimbabwe board of directors on 7 June 2013 declared a final dividend of 0,40 cents per share payable out of the profits of the company for the year ended 3 I March 2013.

The dividend will be payable in United States Dollars to shareholders registered in the books of the Group at the close of business on 28 June 2013. Dividend warrants will be posted or direct payments made on or about 2 July 2013. The share register of the Group will be closed from 29 June to I July 2013, both dates inclusive.

OK Zimbabwe posted a 16.3% revenue growth to $479.6 million surpassing the 15% target for the year ending 31 March 2013 on the backdrop of a downward trend in demand, group CE Willard Zireva told an analyst briefing yesterday.

"Revenue growth was 16.3%...in November we were seeing a downward trend in demand but we still tried to make sure that we achieved more than 15%.

"The growth, in our view, is acceptable in a very difficult environment where growth in GDP is less than 5%," he said.

Imara Stockbrokers says the retail space in Zimbabwe remains a fragmented and highly competitive environment with most operations failing to adequately capitalise post dollarisation. OK Zimbabwe was one of the few companies that were bold enough to accept what was perceived then as expensive funding from Investec, but now management is vindicated as the company is in much better shape than competition.

"Compared to TM supermarkets, which used to do much better that OK, the company is struggling to capitalise its operations and refurbishments have taken longer than anticipated and this have worked to the advantage of OK Zimbabwe.
The company is also benefiting from retailers who are closing shop as exemplified by the taking over of the Spar Eastlea a more spacious store than the current store where Bon Marche is operating from."

Imara are sceptical about OK Zimbabwe's regional expansion given the prior history of Zimbabwean operations in the region although management are bullish about this prospect. Tonderai Maneswa says the price of OK has rallied in the last month to trade above USD0.29 and is currently trading at USD 0.25, ratings are demanding with PER 21x and PBV of 5x. He recommends investors to hold the share.

- Business Daily