ZB FINANCIAL Holdings Limited will in the next few weeks float $5 million agro-bills for agricultural funding and working capital requirements for farmers, an official has said.
BY VICTORIA MTOMBA BUSINESS REPORTER Speaking on the sidelines of the ZB analyst briefing in Harare on Monday group chief executive officer Ronald Mutandagayi said the company was struggling to get any lines of credit because it was under economic sanctions.
He said the group was still under the Office of Foreign Assets Control (Ofac) list which made it difficult to access international funding.
The group and its subsidiaries continued to be listed as Specially Designates Nationals by Ofac of the United States Of America Treasury Department.
“Most regional and international financial institutions are linked to the United States of America. Getting funding is very difficult, but we will be raising a $5 million agro-bill in the next few weeks,” Mutandagayi said.
Between 2010 and 2012, the company has raised $11,3 million in agro-bills ,but the uptake had been slow in some instances.
Mutandagayi said he was hopeful the central bank would soon assume its role as lender of last resort to ease the liquidity crunch.
He said several companies were strained and non-performing loans (NPL) had increased from 2% in 2012 to 17% in 2013. Group finance director, Fanuel Kapanje said the loan book was skewed towards the mining sector at 20% although other sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing also had non-performing loans.
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Mutandagayi said a lot of individuals were over-borrowed and the absence of a credit bureau made it even worse as people were forced to borrow from banks, microfinance institutions and retail shops.
The group posted a profit of $900 000, representing a 92% decline from $10,9 million in 2012 due to a reduction in income which was not commensurate with decrease in costs.
Kapanje said the Memorandum of Understanding between the central bank and banks affected the group’s revenues derived from commission and charges.
Total income for the group was 8%, down to $64, 9 million and interest income was up to $36 million from $35 million.
Basic earnings per share was down 96% to 0,02 cents during the full year ended December 2013.
