ZB Financial Holdings has posted a $4,1 million profit for the half-year-ended June 2015 compared to a loss of $1,2 million in the same period last year, attributed to a raft of cost-cutting measures, an executive has said.
BY VICTORIA MTOMBA
This is the first time in two years that the company has recorded a profit.
“We have also embarked on space rationalisation and we are consolidating our business to reduce rentals. In total, we have saved $7 million through cost-cutting measures,” group CEO Ronald Mutandagayi said on Wednesdayy.
He said the group had remodelled its business and closed non-performing units such as ZB Asset Management, ZB Securities, the small custodial business and it’s now outsourcing cleaning services.
Mutandagayi told an analyst briefing that revenue margins during the period reduced further with asset creation having slowed substantially on the back of a lethargic liquidity outturn and diminished credit absorption capacity in the productive sector.
“We do expect that our second half will be much better than our first half. In an environment where liquidity is tight, we have decided to manage our costs.We are looking at sustaining the profit and all our business segments contributed positively,” he said.
Mutandagayi said interest income for the group stood at $13 million during the six-month period from $16 million in the same period last year. Operating expenses were down 19% to $23,4 million during the period under review from $29 million.
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The company is waiting for the approval of its application from Mozambique’s Instituto de Supervisão de Seguros de Moçambique (ISSM) for its regional insurance unit.
Mutandagayi said: “Our application is now with ISSM, a regulator in Mozambique which is the equivalent of Insurance and Pensions Commission [IPEC] and we are waiting for them to get back to us; they have engaged IPEC and we believe we will get a favourable recommendation.”
He said the opening of the insurance unit in Mozambique had been delayed due to regulatory processes.
The company is still searching for a technical partner to boost its capital. Mutandagayi said the company does not have the lee-way to raise capital like its competitors and the profit that they are making might not make the company reach the $100 million required in five years.
