INNSCOR Africa Limited is set to unbundle its quick service restaurant unit to be separately listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE), the company said yesterday.
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“Shareholders are advised that the Innscor Africa Limited board of directors has approved the unbundling of the company’s quick service restaurant business by way of a dividend in specie of shares in an entity to be separately listed,” Innscor said.
The quick service restaurant business comprises of Chicken Inn, Creamy Inn, Fish Inn, Steers and Nando’s, among others.
The unbundling comes barely five years after the industrial holding company unbundled its crocodile farming business, Padenga Holdings. It was then listed on ZSE.
In the six months to December 31 2014, Innscor saw its profit after tax dipping to $24 million from $64 million in the same period in 2013.
It attributed the decline to a dip in volumes for some of the group’s units emanating from low disposable income.
Innscor said customer counts within the fast food operations in Zimbabwe were 2% below those recorded in the comparative prior period, although consistent improvements in counts were recorded month on month throughout the period, with a particularly strong December trading month.
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It said the process of centralising the fast food operations was largely complete and the above-site cost savings achieved from this initiative resulted in operating profits increasing by 19% over the same period.
“In our ongoing optimisation efforts, seven underperforming counters were closed in Harare during the period while the Emerald Hill complex was closed for refurbishment and is due to re-open shortly,” Innscor said.
“Regionally, we opened an average of just over one counter per week during the period under review and customer counts increased by 5% over the comparative prior period, while improved operating leverage resulted in a 27%increase in operating profit over the same period. A further three new counters were added in Swaziland which is a franchised territory.”
Innscor is targeting 55 additional regional counters in 2015.
