Harare, (New Ziana) – Tobacco Sales Floor Limited (TSL) said on Thursday its operations remained profitable in the third quarter despite an all round decline in performance by subsidiary companies affected by low tobacco output.

Company secretary James Muchando said in a trading update tobacco auction volumes were 73 percent below prior year which also impacted on the performance of the firm’s packaging division and logistics operations.

“Cash generation remains satisfactory with most of group working capital requirements being funded from internally generated resources,” he said.

“Group has remained profitable during the quarter despite generally depressed volumes.”

Muchando said the late start to the tobacco marketing season owing to the Covid-19 outbreak hit the company’s bottom-line in different aspects.

“Contracted volumes handled for tobacco merchants at 7.9 million kg are 45 percent below the same period last year. Work is being undertaken with industry players to ensure a smoother tobacco
marketing season in 2021,” he said.

Propak Hessian, the firm’s tobacco packaging unit saw sales drop 21 percent due to overall decline in the national output of the golden leaf while Premier Forklifts saw volumes slump 18 percent.

“Volumes in the ports business decreased by 37 percent due to generally slower movement of both imports and exports owing to the Covid-19 pandemic,” Muchando said.

The group expects its operations in the remainder of the year “to remain difficult” despite improvements in availability of foreign exchange and a largely stable exchange rate.

TSL subsidiaries include Propak, Agricura, Bak Logisticis, car hiring firm Avis and TSL Properties.
New Ziana