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1. By Tawanda Musarurwa
HARARE – Plastic products
manufacturer Proplastics
expects to benefit from
improved operational effi-
ciencies after the commis-
sioning of a new plant during
the second half of this year.
The new plant is part of the
company’s broader plant
modernisation programme.
Last year, the Masimba Hold-
ings subsidiary commissioned
new plant in its injection
moulding factory.
And in November 2014, Pro-
plastics commissioned a new
HDPE line and Mine pipe.
CEO Mr Kudakwashe Chigiya
told shareholders at the
News Update as @ 1530 hours, Thursday 26 May 2016
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Proplastics forges ahead with plant modernisation programme

2. company’s inaugural annual
general meeting this morn-
ing that the new plant will
enhance the firm’s efficien-
cies.
“The production for one of
our product lines plant is
now sailing and we are on
course to having it commis-
sioned early in the second
half of the year.
“The arrival of this machine
should see the improvement
in the operational efficiencies
in the factory, and we are
aiming to improve our mar-
gins and also the cost of the
product for our consumers,”
he said in a trading update.
“The plant should be arriving
in six to eight weeks from
now.”
In respect of operation
performance for the first
four months of the year, Mr
Chigiya said Proplastics’ vol-
umes were 9 percent above
the same period last year.
“They were mainly driven by
export orders,” he said.
“Total exports have contrib-
uted 14 percent to the total
turnover for the first four
months, which is quite an
encouraging performance for
the business.”
He however said that the
company experiencing pres-
sures on margins due to
weaker regional currencies.
Resultantly, Proplastics’
turnover for the four-month
period under review was flat
compared to last year.
“We have actually seen the
month of May slowing down
further in terms of sales
volumes and we expect this
trend to continue in the short
term,” added Mr Chigiya.
Gross profit margin for the
four-month period was also
flat on prior year.
Meanwhile, the company says
it has tightened its credit
policy in order to contain the
prevailing credit risk.
Although having a negative
impact on sales volumes,
management maintains that
it is “absolutely prudent”
that they control the risk.
Going forward, the CEO said
the policy announcement by
the Reserve Bank of Zim-
babwe that 50 percent of
all export proceeds will be
transferred to the central
bank and returned as RTGS
will affect the company’s
business.
“This will have an adverse
effect on our business as
80 percent of the exports
proceeds are required for
funding the import of raw
materials.”●
2 news
Mr Kudakwashe Chigiya

3. BH243

4. HARARE- Farmers will
continue to receive pay-
ment from sale of tobacco
in United States dollars, a
cabinet Minister has said.
Agriculture, Mechanisation
and Irrigation Development
Minister Dr Joseph Made
noted that even when the
country was using the local
currency, farmers were paid
United States dollars.
Zimbabwe is experiencing
cash shortages owing to a
number of reasons includ-
ing depletion of bank nos-
tro-balances and failure of
the multi-currency system
to function as a result of
pre- dominance of the United
States Dollar.
The US dollar has virtually
substituted all the other cur-
rencies including the South
African Rand, the Pula and
the Euro that were in use at
the adoption of the mul-
ti-currency regime in 2009.To
ease the cash shortages, the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
recently announced a cock-
tail of measures that include
introduction of bond notes
which are expected to go into
circulation soon.
The bond notes, a continua-
tion of the bond coins being
used at the moment, would
be backed by a $200 million
Africa Export and Import
Bank facility. Proposed intro-
duction of the bond notes
has been met with mixed
reactions, with some sections
alleging that it was a way of
returning the Zimbabwe dol-
lar through the back door.
“Growers will access all their
proceeds from tobacco sales,
in United States Dollars.
Until such times that the
monetary authorities resolve
the matter otherwise, for the
tobacco farmers, it is the
United States Dollar,” said Dr
Made.- New Ziana●
4 news
Tobacco farmers to continue receiving payments in US$

5. BH245

6. BH246

7. By Tawanda Musarurwa
HARARE - The Zimbabwe
Stock Exchange (ZSE) today
lifted the suspension in the
trading of shares of CFI
Holdings Ltd after the firm
finally published its audited
financial statements for the
year ended September 30,
2015 earlier this month.
Earlier in January, CFI was
suspended from the Zimba-
bwe Stock Exchange (ZSE)
for failing to publish its
audited financial statements
for last year, as well as to
allow for and investigations
into trading done during a
closed period.
However in lifting the sus-
pension, ZSE chief executive
Mr Alban Chirume only said
CFI’s compliance in respect
of the former has “necessi-
tated” the lifting.
This probably means that the
bourse’s investigations into
a trade of the CFI's issued
shares during the closed
period is still in progress.
Said the ZSE boss:
“On 13 May 2016, CFI's
audited financial statements
for the year ended Septem-
ber 30, 2015 were published
to comply with the ZSE
Listings Requirements thus
necessitating the lifting of
the suspension.
“The suspension and its
lifting were approved by the
Securities and Exchange
Commission of Zimbabwe
(SECZ) pursuant to Section
64 of the Securities and
Exchange Act [Cap24.25].”
CFI’s subsidiaries include
Agrifoods, Agrimix, Crest
Breeders International,
Suncrest, Farm&City Centre,
Vetco, Victoria Foods and
Maitland.
And for FY2015, the group
loss for the year of $25, 1
million against a loss of $9,
9 million incurred in the pre-
vious year.●
7 news
CFI’s suspension lifted

8. BH24 Reporter
HARARE - THE Confederation
of Zimbabwe Industry (CZI)
has appealed to the Zimbabwe
Defence Forces to consider
buying some of its supplies,
especially those that are being
produced locally, from local
suppliers ..
CZI president Busisa Moyo
said the defence force is the
biggest consumer of different
products that are manufac-
tured in the country but some
of the products are being
imported.
The move is in line with the
Buy Zimbabwe concept, which
promoted the idea of buying
local.
“We had a special moment
where we engaged with the
commander of the defence
forces and defence segment
of the country where we were
talking of local procurement
both for commodities, textiles
and other things we can sup-
ply as local industry because
the military defence segment
of the country does spend
quite a lot of money.
“So we want to make sure as
local manufacturers we tap
into that market and become
part of their suppliers,” he
said.
He said this during the CZI
annual general meeting where
the organisation was selecting
its new board members and
discussing other issues con-
cerning the economy
“We had a fruitful dialogue and
we will like to take it forward
by having some meetings
where will talk some specifics
to see what we can supply to
the defence forces,” he said.
In his remarks during the
same event Commander Zim-
babwe Defence Forces, Gen-
eral Dr Constantine Chiwenga
said the army is ready to
work with CZI in buying local
produced goods and supply-
ing technical workforce in the
research sector.
“From a security perspective
local procurement is the best
for it assures certainty of sup-
ply even in the event of war.
It is therefore important to
have co-operation between the
CZI and defence forces and in
this co-operation the defence
forces define their needs and
the industry comes up with
solutions,” he said.
He added that local purchases
are better for the defence
forces than procurements from
external sources and local
industry must be prepared and
be proactive in planning to
meet the requirements of the
defence forces.
“Ladies and gentlemen this
innovation can be done
through proactive engagement
with the internal Research and
development effort of the Zim-
babwe Defence Forces. Indeed
the Zimbabwe Industries can
co-operate in creating the
tools that are required by the
defence forces,” he said.
He added that the Zimba-
bwe Defence Forces is one of
the single major spenders of
Government which is often
expected to stimulate aggre-
gate demand in the econ-
omy.●
Army urged to buy local
8 news
CZI president Busisa Moyo

9. HARARE - The mainstream
industrial index was in the
negative today after shed-
ding 0.12 to close at 105.12
as trading resumed following
a short mid-week holiday.
Conglomerate Innscor led the
fallers, going down $0,0100
to close at $0,2100, while
FBC Holdings slid $0,0010 to
$0,0650 and crocodile skin
producer Padenga closed
lower at $0,0742 after shed-
ding $0,0008.
On the upside, Delta Bever-
ages was the only counter to
trade positively after adding
$0,0025 to settle at $0,7200.
The mining index was steady
at 25.24 as Bindura, Fal-
gold, Hwange and RioZim
maintained previous price
levels at $0,0120, $0,0050,
$0,0300 and $0,1610,
respectively
. BH24 Reporter ●
Industrials in the red
9 zse
02 03
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10. Movers CHANGE Today Price USc SHAKERS Change TODAY Price USc
Delta 0.34 72.00 Innscor -4.54 21.00
FBC -1.51 6.50
Padenga -1.06 7.42
Index Previous Today Move Change
Industrial 105.24 105.12 -0.12 points -0.11%
Mining 25.54 25.54 +0.00 points +0.00%
10 zse tables
ZSE
Indices
Stock Exchange
Previous
today

11. 11 DIARY OF EVENTS
The black arrow indicate level of load shedding across the country.
POWER GENERATION STATS
Gen Station
26 May 2016
Energy
(Megawatts)
Hwange 336 MW
Kariba 677 MW
Harare 0 MW
Munyati 28 MW
Bulawayo 20 MW
Imports 0 - 400 MW
Total 1237 MW
26 MAY -- Proplastics Annual General Meeting; Place: Meikles Hotel, Cnr 3rd/Jason Moyo Avenue, Harare; Time: 10:00hrs
27 MAY -- ZB Financial Holdings Limited Twenty-Seventh Annual General Meeting; Place: Board Room, Ground Floor, 21
Natal Road, Avondale, Harare; Time: 10:30hrs
31 MAY -- Pearl Properties (2006) Limited Annual General Meeting; Place: Royal Harare Golf Club, Harare; Time: 14.30hrs
2 JUNE -- Zimplow Annual General Meeting; Place: Zimplow Holdings Limited Head Office, 36 Birmingham Road, Harare;
Time: 10:00hrs
9 JUNE -- First Mutual Holdings Annual General Meeting; Place: Royal Harare Golf Club, Harare; Time: 14:30hrs
THE BH24 DIARY

12. Panama, widely recognised
as one of the world’s tax
havens, declined a request
by the South African gov-
ernment to enter into a
bilateral arrangement for the
exchange of information.
However, the refusal was
made before the huge leak
of information about the
offshore holdings of wealthy
individuals and entities
disclosed as the Panama
Papers. These were released
by an international consor-
tium of journalists on the
basis of data obtained from
files of Panamanian law firm
Mossack Fonseca.
The South African Revenue
Service (SARS) identified 1
700 individual South Africans
in the Panama Papers data.
Panama is also one of a
handful of countries that has
refused to participate in a
global automatic exchange of
tax information — an initia-
tive of the Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and
Development — which will
come into effect next year.
Chief director of the Treas-
ury’s tax policy unit Yanga
Mputa said on Wednesday
that no further approach had
been made to the Pana-
manian government for an
agreement allowing for a
bilateral exchange of infor-
mation.
She and representatives of
SARS, the Reserve Bank, the
Treasury and the Financial
Intelligence Centre briefed
three parliamentary commit-
tees on the work under way
to deal with illicit financial
flows. One issue to emerge
from the discussion was the
need for closer co-operation
among the entities.
SARS group executive for
product oversight, legal and
policy Vlok Symington told
MPs that SARS had identi-
fied 1 700 individual South
African residents in the
Panama Papers. Their status
varied from shareholders and
directors to beneficiaries. In
addition, 56 South African
intermediaries had been
identified, Symington said.
SARS is matching the identi-
ties of these individuals with
the SARS database and test-
ing the Panama data against
the income tax declarations
of the South African resi-
dents. So far 79 of a total
560 offshore entities had
been matched to 81 South
African residents.
Symington said it was too
early to predict the level of
tax avoidance or evasion and
cautioned that the processes
of profiling and enforcement
were lengthy.
"The data available to SARS
with respect to the Panama
Papers is a useful starting
point for further inquiry
but will require substantial
follow-up work," Symington
said.
In April SARS participated
in a special meeting of
the Joint International Tax
Shelter Information and
Collaboration Network on the
Panama Papers. An interna-
tional action plan was agreed
on aimed at obtaining more
information and sharing it
efficiently among tax admin-
istrators.
"International co-operation
will intensify once a better
understanding of the Panama
data becomes available,"
Symington said.
He noted that transfer pric-
ing audits in the 2015-16 fis-
cal year had yielded R721m
from the mining and quarry-
ing industry, R95m from the
oil refinery sector and R43m
from manufacturing.
Reserve Bank head of
financial surveillance Elijah
Mazibuko told MPs from the
finance, trade and indus-
try and mineral resources
committees that since Jan-
uary 2015 about 145 bank
accounts with about R307m
had been frozen for suspi-
cious illicit financial flows.
A total of 77 new investi-
gations was opened during
this period and arrests were
made. He said there had
been a "dramatic" increase
in the number of referrals of
suspect transactions. It was
legal for South African res-
idents to invest up to R10m
plus R1m a year offshore, he
said. – BDLive●
regioNAL News12
Panama snubbed SA on data exchange request

13. Brent crude rose above $50
a barrel for the first time
in more than six months
as a drop in US stockpiles
accelerated a rebound from
a 12-year low after global
disruptions trimmed the mar-
ket’s glut.
Futures rose as much as 0,8
percent in London to the
highest intraday price since
Nov. 4, after climbing 2.9
percent the previous two
sessions. US inventories slid
by 4,23 million barrels last
week, exceeding an expected
drop of 2 million. Attacks in
Nigeria have cut production
to a 20-year low and Vene-
zuela is struggling to main-
tain output amid power cuts,
while producers in Canada
are beginning to restart oil-
sands operations halted by
wildfires.
Brent has surged about 80
percent since dropping to the
lowest since 2003 in January
on signs the global over-
supply will ease. The final
preparatory gathering of the
Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries officials
before a ministerial meeting
next week didn’t include dis-
cussions on limiting output,
signaling the group will stick
with its strategy of defending
market share.
“The immediate driver is
a good draw on US crude
stockpiles, helping to nudge
the price up a bit further,”
Ric Spooner, a chief analyst
at CMC Markets in Sydney,
said by phone. “The market
hasn’t had any bad news to
knock it off its perch but the
price is likely to struggle if it
gets into the $50s. There is
still quite a bit of inventory
around.”
Brent for July settlement
climbed as much as 40 cents
to $50,14 a barrel on the
London-based ICE Futures
Europe exchange and was at
$50,10 at 1:55 p.m. Hong
Kong time. The contract
increased $1,13 to $49,74
on Wednesday. The global
benchmark crude was at a
premium of 22 cents to West
Texas Intermediate, the US
marker grade.
WTI for July delivery climbed
as much as 37 cents to
$49,93 a barrel on the New
York Mercantile Exchange.
The contract gained 94 cents
to $49,56 on Wednesday.
Total volume traded was
about 32 percent below the
100-day average. Prices are
up about 90 percent from a
February low.
US crude production dropped
for an 11th week to 8,77
million barrels a day, the
lowest level since September
2014, the Energy Informa-
tion Administration reported
Wednesday. Stockpiles at
Cushing, Oklahoma, the
delivery point for WTI and
the nation’s biggest oil-stor-
age hub, fell by 649 000
barrels.– Bloomberg●
internatioNAL News13
Brent trades above $50 for 1st time in 6 months as supplies drop

14. By Dominic Mhiripiri
M-Pesa, the mobile money plat-
form which falls under telecoms
giant Safaricom in Kenya, is the
most developed one in Africa.
Recently, after shifting the serv-
ers for the service from Ger-
many to Kenya to cut costs and
improve efficiency, the M-Pesa
machine is sharper than ever,
capable of completing 900 trans-
actions per second, compared
with 320 previously.
A fortnight ago, the CEO of the
telecom giant Bob Collymore,
reportedly told Bloomberg that
M-Pesa was now handling trans-
actions of about 5 billion shillings
daily, or US$50 million.
We’re talking about a $1,5 billion
economy a month. Just betting.
The reports go on:“According to
the CEO the growth in transac-
tion volumes on M-Pesa has been
attributed to the growth of Sports
Betting in Kenya. Sports Betting
now serves as one of the largest
contributors to traffic on M-Pesa.”
Recently – in the same period
that the Safaricom results came
out, showing the surge in M-Pesa
spurred by betting – Techzim
coverage has included articles
about both both mobile money
and betting.
We covered the deal between
EcoCash Zimbabwe and
MTN Zambia that launched a
ground-breaking cross-border
remittance channel that will see
local EcoCash wallets receiving
money from the other side of the
Zambezi. At the same time, we
also covered the current state of
betting in Zimbabwe, showing
how shops in the industry have
seen a surge in foot traffic and
subsequently, the volumes of
bets placed.
We also predicted from our own
analysis that once the trigger of
online gambling is pulled, another
boom will be experienced in the
industry, before adding another
installment revealing that the
infrastructure for online betting,
and the experience of it, were
already here in Zimbabwe.
But we never connected the
two: mobile money, and sports
betting. The booming of popu-
larity of the latter means that
the economic opportunity is no
longer confined to only gambling
houses. The opportunity is there
for mobile money platforms like
EcoCash, TeleCash and OneWal-
let – because, to take a leaf from
the Kenya experience, punters
use the mobile money platform
to load their betting wallets with
cash, and then use it to withdraw
of their winnings.
What are we waiting for?
In the discussions that have
followed our small series on
the local betting industry, it has
emerged that not only is the
business opportunity strong for
betting in Zimbabwe, but that
outsiders are realizing it.
Several local entrepreneurs have
reported receiving propositions
from foreign investors seeking
to capitalize on the opportunity.
Most of the propositions did not
go through.
When EcoCash recently launched
its remittance partnership with
MTN, the manager of the Econet
subsidiary characterised her’s as
a company that has been notch-
ing stride after stride in the past
two years.
Coming just a week after
their Kenyan counterparts had
revealed how sports betting is
driving M-Pesa to new heights,
Natalie Jabangwe’s presentation
was high on current develop-
ments within her company, and
low on what prospects EcoCash
has lined up for short-term future
growth.
To our knowledge, betting as
one such avenue has not been
mentioned by anyone at Econet.
Even the link between Liquid’s
fibre internet expansion and the
boom in local betting is some-
thing we’re not certain has not
been missed by Econet and its
competitors.
Given the revelations of how
sports betting has been proven as
big driver for mobile money in a
bigger market than Zimbabwe’s,
it will be interesting to see if, and
how, local M-money players will
seek import those lessons back
home. - Techzim●
14 analysis14 analysis
The business of betting and the big opportunity for Zim mobile money