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Business reporter
Zimbabwe focused investment company Cambria Africa finally published its results which show a loss of $15,8 million for the year ending August 31, 2014 compared to another loss of $11,9 million the prior year.

The company’s results were delayed by “extenuating circumstances”. There was a slight growth in revenues from $8,4 million for the full year to August 31, 2013 to $9,4 million for the period under review.

Gross profit also grew to $5,01 million after cost of sales came in at $4,3 million. In the prior year cost of sales amounted to $3,9 million resulting in a gross profit of $4,5 million.

However, operating costs for the period of $8,5 million, a loss on disposal and impairment of assets of $774 000 resulting in an operating loss of $4,2 million while finance costs of $1,1 million and net finance costs to the tune of $1,1 million resulted in a loss before tax of $5,3 million and a loss from continuing operations of $5,6 million.

This together with losses from discontinued operations of $10,1 million resulted in the $15,8 million loss for the year. Cambria’s loss per share for the financial year was 19,5c per share, compared to 18,4c per share for the same period last year, an increase of 6 percent in loss per share.

Revenues and gross profit for the group’s remaining assets Payserv and Millchem combined, grew by 11 and 10 percent year-on-year, respectively. Revenues rose to $9,4 million during the period from $8,5 million during the prior period and gross profit was $5 million from $4,6 million in the prior period.

Cambria chief executive Mr Samir Shasha said that after the disposal of other assets they were now focused on a number of issues relating to the remaining assets such as rationalising and simplifying the head office function including head office roles, responsibilities and reporting lines and implementing an aggressive reduction in overheads has been accelerated following the investment by VAL in April 2015;

“We are focusing on restoring the momentum lost in Millchem by re-establishing key supplier and customer relationships and performing a critical financial and operational analysis of the underlying subsidiaries including Millchem Zambia and accelerating the development of Payserv Zambia to achieve break-even and profitability.

On working capital Mr Shasha said, “On September 3 2015 the company concluded a settlement agreement with Lonrho with respect to the claims and counter-claims (“the Claims”) between the parties, in terms of which the company will receive $4,752 million in full and final settlement of the claims. After outstanding litigation and other associated costs, the net proceeds are estimated to be $3,5 million.

“Taking account of the external borrowings mentioned above, the company is therefore expected to have sufficient working capital until April 2016.

“The company’s board is however, confident that it will be able to refinance or raise additional finances to cover the contractual debt obligations before they become due,” he said.

Looking ahead he said the company would seek to continue creating value for shareholders through its investments in Millchem and Payserv.

“In addition, the board is in the process of formulating its investment strategy to implement strategic value-creating acquisitions as appropriate opportunities arise.

“We will continue to focus on Zimbabwe, which we believe provides the best opportunity for successful investment and growth in the short to medium term,” he said.

Turning to the issue of delays in the publication of results, Mr Shasha said considerable time and resources have been invested in improving the financial reporting functions of the company after the coming in of Ventures Africa Limited.

“The board is confident that the previous factors causing delays in the publication of results have been satisfactorily addressed ensuring future results will be published timeously,” he said.