LIVINGSTONE MARUFU
Zimbabwe’s largest financial services group, CBZ Holdings’ profit in the nine months to September 30,2021, fell 16% to ZWL$3.1bn from ZWL$3.7bn owing to inflationary pressures and Covid-19 related costs.
The group says it has built the necessary infrastructure and adopted an operating model that enables it to seamlessly respond to changes in the operating environment.
“Inflationary pressures, however, also returned with the resumption of business activity, as evidenced by the rise in the month-on-month inflation rate from an average of 2.7% during the second quarter to an average of 3.8% during the third quarter,” CBZ company secretary Rumbidzayi Jakanani said.
Revenue for the group, however, increased 9% in the reviewed period to ZWL$17.3bn from US$15.9bn following the opening up of the economy.
Government relaxed the restrictions to level 2 from level 4 , thereby enabling resumption of economic and business activity on a large scale.
“The government’s investment in infrastructure projects, among them road rehabilitation, further stimulated business activity in beneficiary sectors, such as construction, manufacturing and transport.
“This, in turn, widened the business opportunities available to the group,” she said.
All the group’s regulated subsidiaries were in full compliance with their capital requirements.
The directors expect their banking subsidiaries to be compliant with the minimum revised requirements which are effective December 31 2021.
Jakanani said the group has responded well to the needs presented by the pandemic as the biggest financial institution accelerated digitisation across all business units to enhance remote working and customer experience.
CBZ continues to prioritise employees’ and stakeholders’ health and safety amid the effects of Covid-19.
In addition, the group fully embraced the government vaccination programme and it encouraged all its employees to be vaccinated.
Despite the negative impact of the virus, the group has assessed that the pandemic will not have an inhibiting impact on its ability to continue operating as a going concern.
The group has put in place measures to counter the effects of the pandemic, leveraging on its robust capital and balance sheet positions, technological platforms and digital infrastructure.
The directors have engaged themselves to continuously assess the ability of the group to continue to operate as a going concern in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In the outlook, CBZ expects the economic activity to strengthen, thereby enhancing financial performance of the business.
On the capital markets, the CBZH share price closed the third quarter at ZWL$83.0671.
The ZSE benchmark all share index rose by 225.46% in the period under review.
As a result, CBZ ended the period with a market capitalisation of ZWL$43.42bn.
