Transporter, Unifrieght internally calculated a net profit, translated to US$2.037 million last year, according to the company chairman P. J. Annesley.
This is despite the challenges that Zimbabwean companies faced during 2019 due to economic challenges.
Annesley says, “Historical Group revenue of ZW$ 136.3 million and net profit of ZW$ 26.6 million (Inflation adjusted: 296.2 million and 3.8 million respectively) are up 400% and 2200% respectively on last year, which although good, forces us to acknowledge that the ZW$ figures are quite meaningless.”
“More meaningful, is that in volume terms, our total tonnage in 2019 was only 13.8% down on prior year which is good, considering most business volumes were down more than 50%, this was partly by design and we were only 4.2% down on budget.”
The Unifreight chairman, however, revealed that the company is under no delusion of the difficulties that lie ahead in the current year.
“We anticipate a very hard long road ahead and we are ready adapt our business model to the inevitable changes that are coming,” Annesley says.
“The Zimbabwean economy was already under extreme pressure before the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and how this has ravaged the global economy.”
“Fortunately, we were already prepared for the worst and have managed to survive the first onslaught quite well,” explained Annesley.
Zimbabwean companies have been listing hyperinflation and policy changes that took place last year as challenges that threatened profits.
The Covid-19 has also added to the challenges faced by companies, with countries around the world enforcing lockdown to stop the spread of the pandemic.