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1. BH24 Reporter
HARARE – Barclays Bank of
Zimbabwe is disposing its
50 percent shareholding in
Makasa Sun Ltd, a Victoria
Falls based hospitality com-
pany for $14,6 million, the
bank said.
Barclays Bank said Makasa
Sun had been affected by
depressed local tourism
business.
“Barclays Bank of Zimbabwe
Limited hereby advises its
members and stakeholders
that the Bank is in the pro-
cess of finalising a transac-
tion for the disposal of its 50
percent interest in Makasa
Sun (Private) Limited,” said
the bank in a statement
today.
“The net consideration to be
paid for the bank’s interest
being sold is $14,55 million.
“The parties to the transac-
tion are now in the process
News Update as @ 1530 hours, Friday 26 February 2016
Feedback: bh24admin@zimpapers.co.zwEmail: bh24feedback@zimpapers.co.zw
Barclays Bank Zimbabwe exists Makasa Sun

2. of fulfilling conditions prece-
dent stated in the agreement
of sale.”
The initial payment of $7,5
million will be paid within
30 days of signing the deal
while the remaining balance
would be settled over 12,
according to the bank.
“The balance to be paid
by instalments shall incur
interest charges, which will
be reviewed annually in ref-
erence to an agreed inter-
est rate benchmark,” said
Barclays adding the proceeds
of the sale would be chan-
neled towards other banking
activities.
“The value of the net assets
which are the subject of the
transaction was previously
reported at $14,6 million as
at 30 June 2015. There will
be no significant effect on
the net assets per share of
the company except to the
extent of returns that will be
generated from the invest-
ment of the proceeds going
forward...,” said the bank.
In 2001, beverages producer
Delta Corporation sold of its
interest in Makasa Sun as
part of its wider demerging
process from non-core activ-
ities.●
2 news

3. BH243

4. By Funny Hudzerema
HARARE – ZSE-listed paint
manufacturer Astra Indus-
tries is targeting to grow its
market share by 6 percent
this year through upgrading
its brands to compete with
global brands.
“Our target for 2016 is to
continuously grow our mar-
ket share. We are around
45 to 50 percent in terms of
market share and we hope
that we can grow by extra
5 to 6 percent,” manag-
ing director Mr Mackenzie
Mazimbe said
“At this stage we are busy
improving our process to
become world class (pro-
ducer) to ensure that we
offer top of the range
brands.”
In terms of exports, the
group is targeting to expand
into the region, particularly
Zambia.
“Our exports are still very
low but in terms of percent-
age, our exports has grown
over to 200 percent but from
a very low base.”
“The bulk of our operations
are local we supply over 90
percent of what we produce
to the local market particu-
larly to the retailers and
hardware shops take the
majority of what we pro-
duce,” he said.
Astra has two plants in
Harare and Bulawayo as well
as hardwares countywide.
In the past two years, the
company invested close to $1
million in re-tooling. ●
4 news
Astra eyes market growth in 2016

5. BH245

6. BH246

7. BH24 Reporter
HARARE - The country’s
largest financial group, CBZ
Holdings’ after-tax profit rose
7 percent to $35,2 million in
the full year to December 31,
2015.
During the period under
review, the banking group
said it wrote off $24 million
in bad debts. Last year, CBZ
wrote off $4,45 million.
The Reserve Bank of Zimba-
bwe has created ZAMCO - a
special purpose vehicle to buy
bad loans from the banks –
which at the close of last year
had reduced the local financial
services sector’s non-perform-
ing loan ratio from about 20
percent in June 2014 to 10.9
percent by December 2015.
The financial services group
reduced the amount of total
loans advanced to $1,021
billion during 2015, further
down from $1,126 billion
previously.
For the year ended, the
bank’s non-performing loan
ratio improved marginally to
7,45 percent from 7,63 per-
cent in the prior year.
CBZ’s total income for the
period under review jumped
19 percent to $184,21 million
on the back of increases
across the board.
The figures show that net
interest income was up
123,50 percent to $109,12
million after interest income
increased by 7,20 percent,
against a 6,94 percent
decrease in interest expense.
Management reported that
the growth in interest income
came from short term money
market assets to $33,55
million from $15,13 million
previously, while non-interest
income was up by 7,74 per-
cent to $62,58 million with its
contribution to total income
declining to 34 percent from
37,5 percent in 2014.
And net underwriting income
from the group’s insurance
businesses rose by 53,75 per-
cent to $12,5 million.
Notwithstanding the growth
in total income profit for the
period was up by 6,66 percent
to $35,23 million.
The bank’s profitability was
weighed down by a 22,58
percent growth in expenses
including operating expend-
iture which went up 19,19
percent, while impairment
charges rose 5,48 percent
and taxation grew by 1,68
percent.
Basic earnings per share grew
to 6,52 cents up from 5,59
cents.
CBZ paid a final dividend per
share of 0,42 cents or $1,45
million. Total dividend for the
year amounted to $2.91 mil-
lion, which was a 10 percent
growth on prior year.●
7 news
CBZ profit rises 7pc

8. BH248

9. BH249

10. HARARE - The equities market
rose up 0.48 on a week-on-
week basis as the mainstream
industrial index closed the week
higher at 99.40 after a 0.07
gain.
In today’s trades giant telecoms
Econet was the only counter
trading in the positive territory
adding $0,0021 to close at
$0,2300.
No counter traded in the
negative territory while seven
counters remained at previous
price levels.
The mining index recovered
0.40 to settle at 19.14 as Bind-
ura gained $0,0005 to close at
$0,0095 while Falgold, Hwange
and RioZim maintained pre-
vious price levels at $0,0050,
$0,0300 and $0,1040 respec-
tively.
Week-on-week, the mining
index gained 0.40 - BH24
Reporter ●
ZSE10
Equities market close week on a high

11. BH2411

12. Movers CHANGE Today Price USc SHAKERS Change TODAY Price USc
Bindura 5.55 0.95
Econet 0.92 23.00
Index Previous Today Move Change
Industrial 99.33 99.40 +0.07 points +0.07%
Mining 18.74 19.14 +0.40 points +2.13%
12 zse tables
ZSE
Indices
Stock Exchange
Previous
02 03
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13. BH2413

14. 14 DIARY OF EVENTS
The black arrow indicate level of load shedding across the country.
POWER GENERATION STATS
Gen Station
26 February 2016
Energy
(Megawatts)
Hwange 285 MW
Kariba 285 MW
Harare 30 MW
Munyati 23 MW
Bulawayo 22 MW
Imports 0 - 500 MW
Total 1172 MW
25 February 2016 - The 49th Annual General Meeting of Mashonaland Holdings Limited; Place: The Boardroom, 19th Floor, ZB Life
Towers, 77 Jason Moyo Avenue, Harare; Time: 1200 hours...
26 February 2016 - The Sixty-ninth Annual General Meeting of Ariston Holdings Limited; Place: Ariston Holdings Limited Main
Boardroom, 306 Hillside Road, Msasa Woodlands, Harare: Time: 14.30 hours:
THE BH24 DIARY

15. BH2415

16. BH2416

17. DAR ES SALAAM - The
African Development Bank
(AfDB) has approved a loan
package worth $1.1 billion to
Tanzania to be paid out over
five years to fund infrastruc-
ture projects and improve
public sector governance, it
said.
The line of credit will be
used primarily to support the
transport and energy sectors
and improve the business
environment in east Africa's
second-biggest economy.
The loans would support
"transport and energy to
promote domestic and
regional transport connec-
tivity and improve access
to reliable, affordable and
sustainable electricity," AfDB
said in a statement late on
Thursday.
"The second pillar prioritises
strengthening of financial
management and improving
the enabling environment for
private sector investment
and finance for sustainable
job creation."
The government plans to
spend $14.2 billion to con-
struct a new standard gauge
rail network in the next five
years financed with external
loans. It also plans to build
a new $10 billion port at
Bagamoyo, expand existing
airports and invest in new
roads.
Tanzania, like its neigh-
bour Kenya, wants to profit
from its long coastline and
upgrade existing rickety
railways and roads to serve
growing economies in the
land-locked heart of Africa.
Tanzania boasts economic
growth of 7 percent a year,
yet it is largely driven by
state investment and poverty
remains stubbornly high.
It also has natural gas
reserves that are estimated
at more than 57 trillion cubic
feet (tcf) and the central
bank believes 2 percentage
points would be added to
its annual economic growth
simply by starting work on a
plant to process that would
draw in billions of dollars of
investment.
"Board members under-
scored the need for Tanza-
nian authorities to ensure
that the country’s high GDP
growth delivers robust eco-
nomic transformation, pov-
erty reduction and improved
livelihoods," AfDB said.-
Reuters●
regioNAL News17
African Development Bank approves $1.1 billion in loans to Tanzania

18. BH24
Z E S A HOLDINGS (PVT) LTD
National Training Centre
Notice to clients and stakeholders
GILBERT MASERENGA (ID NO: 63-013423-A-70) & MOFFAT MKUSA (ID 59-047106-L-59)
Please be advised that the above named who were based at ZESA National Training Centre are no
longer employed by ZESA Holdings. They are therefore no longer authorised to conduct any
business on behalf of ZESA National Training Centre or to act in any representative capacity for the
organisation. Clients and stakeholders are advised not to engage them in any business transactions
involving ZESANational Training Centre.
ZESA Holdings will not be liable for any loss or prejudice which may arise as a result of doing
business with the two former employees.
The new contact details for Reservations and the Warden are:
Callista Mukono - Reservations : 0784 113837
Kudzai Dondofema - Accommodation : 0775 212585
TARI-DI363483-D26
18

19. Consumer sentiment, the
housing market, the pound.
It’s all taking a hit from
“Brexit.”
Property analyst Hometrack
said on Friday the upcoming
referendum on whether Brit-
ain should leave the Euro-
pean Union will curb housing
activity and GfK’s measure
of consumers’ economic opti-
mism plunged to the lowest
in almost three years. The
pound has fallen more than
3 percent against the dollar
this week and is headed for
its worst week since 2009.
The referendum adds to
potential risks for the U.K.
economy this year, with
polls showing the outcome
is hard to call. While growth
has been sustained for 12
straight quarters and low
inflation is boosting real
incomes, the run-up to the
June 23 vote could under-
mine confidence and busi-
ness spending.
Joe Staton at GfK said that
despite the positives for
households, “the feeble
outlook for growth and a
variety of economic uncer-
tainties since the start of the
year has depressed our New
Year optimism.” According
to GfK’s report, sentiment
fell to the lowest since 2014
and consumers’ assessment
of the economic outlook
plunged to the weakest read-
ing since June 2013.
Hometrack said the EU vote,
along with forthcoming tax
changes affecting buyers of
rental property, could damp
sales volumes.
Weaker Outlook
“After a three-year upturn in
housing-market activity and
house prices, the outlook for
the market appears increas-
ingly tied up with policy
impacts and the potential
outcome of the referendum,”
said Richard Donnell, a
director at Hometrack.
The uncertainty surrounding
the vote comes as the U.K.
struggles to cope with weak
overseas demand.
Confidence among U.K.
exporters fell in the fourth
quarter amid slowing growth
in China and the U.S. and
continued weakness in the
euro area, according to a
survey by the British Cham-
bers of Commerce and DHL
published Friday. Overseas
sales and orders in the
last three months of 2015
dropped “significantly,” they
said.-Bloomberg●
internatioNAL News19
U.K. consumers succumb to `Brexit' jitters as confidence slumps

20. BH2420

21. By Seth Lipsky
Call it the “Brexit of Cham-
pions.” That’s the phrase the
American Spectator is using
to describe the growing sup-
port for a British exit from
the European Union, which
will be put to a referendum
in June.
The latest — and biggest —
champion emerged this week
when the Conservative mayor
of London, Boris Johnson,
announced he’ll join, and
campaign for, the Brexit
camp.
This pits him against Prime
Minister David Cameron. A
supporter of staying in the
European Union, Cameron
scheduled the referendum
while promising to negotiate
concessions from the Euro-
pean socialists.
His negotiations, though, got
bupkis. Famed editor and
Margaret Thatcher biographer
Charles Moore wrote recently
that the result of Cameron’s
dickering was “insulting.”
It’s plain that staying in
the European Union would
eventually doom British
sovereignty. No wonder six
members of Cameron’s own
Cabinet have now come out
for quitting Europe.
Hence the June referendum
has become too close to call.
Certainly a British exit from
Europe would be a geopoliti-
cal earthquake. It would be a
rebuke not only to European
socialism but also to the idea
of Europe as an anti-Ameri-
can bloc.
Incredibly, President Obama
has been urging Britain to
stick with Europe. Two years
ago, he warned that if Britain
were to pull out of Europe,
it would lose influence there
and even here.
My own theory is that Obama
actually prefers the kind of
socialist regulatory think-
ing that obtains in Brussels,
where the union has its
headquarters. Bernie Sanders
21 analysis21 analysis
A British exit from the European Union could mean a whole new world order

22. 22 analysis22 analysis
is openly campaigning for a
European-style system.
In recent months, Obama
turned nastier. His trade rep-
resentative, Michael Froman,
told Britain in October that if
it makes a bid for independ-
ence, it should forget about
any separate trade agree-
ment with America.
America, Froman sneered,
is “not particularly in the
market” for free-trade
agreements “with individual
countries.” He warned that
an independent Britain could
face the kind of tariffs Amer-
ica imposes on Red China.
What an insult to a wartime
ally with whom America has
long maintained a special
relationship. What blind-
ness to an opportunity to
strengthen our relations with
the mother of parliaments.
And what a contrast to the
Republican candidates here.
In an interview in Novem-
ber with the London Times,
Marco Rubio gave what the
paper called his “tacit bless-
ing” to the Brexit. Ted Cruz
would respect British voters.
Donald Trump, the Republi-
can front-runner, hasn’t yet
made his mark on this issue.
None of them has really
picked up on the radical
possibilities for establishing
a whole new alignment of lib-
erty-loving nations.
Yet no less an early skeptic
of the Brexit than historian
Conrad Black, the ex-press
baron who is still in the
House of Lords, has begun
sketching the upside of a
British exit. (He is a former
partner of mine in the New
York Sun.)
Black, calling Boris John-
son Britain’s “most popular
political figure,” foresees the
chance for “enhanced eco-
nomic and political coopera-
tion” between Britain and its
“historic allies in the Com-
monwealth of Nations.”
That’s a substantial bloc. In
National Review this month,
John O’Sullivan points out
that such countries as Can-
ada, Australia, New Zealand,
Singapore and India “manage
to stagger along without a
protective Big Brother.”
I’d add Israel, which has
proved that even an embat-
tled country need not truckle
to the EU. (It’s no coinci-
dence, I’m going to guess,
that one of Britain’s liveliest
voices against the movement
to boycott the Jewish state
has been Boris Johnson.)
Imagine, in any event, if an
independent Britain could
lead to a new and wide
alignment with America,
whose own revolution was
inspired by ideas of liberty
often hatched in England and
Scotland.
It would be terrific all
around. Particularly after
Obama’s years of American
retreat. Our greatest interna-
tional triumphs, Conrad Black
notes this week, were under
the partnerships of Churchill
and FDR and Thatcher and
Reagan.
So who will extend a hand to
Boris Johnson and his allies
as Britain tries to make a
break for freedom — Ted
Cruz, Marco Rubio or Donald
Trump? Whoever it is will be
a candidate to watch.
Brexit of Champions, indeed.
– New York Post ●