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1. By Tawanda Musarurwa
HARARE – Property holdings
and management company
Mashonaland Holdings has
said it is re-strategising
on the development of its
Hazeldene landbank, which
might see the abandonment
of earlier plans to turn the
project into a housing devel-
opment.
Chief executive officer Mr
Manfred Mahari told the
company’s shareholders this
afternoon that the develop-
ment had been necessitated
mainly by a lack of afforda-
ble mortgages on the local
market.
“Given the persistent liquid-
ity challenges and lack of
affordable mortgage, we are
actively considering alter-
native options for realising
value on the Hazeldene land-
bank in the short-term,” he
said, adding that the value of
the options will be weighed
against already existent
plans.
“These options will be
assessed against the long
held housing development
plan for which we have
already obtained a permit.”
The mortgaging sector in
the country is facing the key
challenge of lack of long-
term mortgage finance,
which has resulted in the few
available mortgages becom-
ing very expensive.
In respect of the group’s
other property development,
the CEO said they expect the
OK Houghton Park project
News Update as @ 1530 hours, Thursday 25 February 2016
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Mashonaland re-considers Hazeldene plans

2. 2 news
to be completed early in the
second half of this year.
“We remain on target to
completing the OK Houghton
Park project by end of July
2016. The entry yield for this
project is 6 percent.
“Additionally, completion of
the project will free up the
space being let to OK for
further strategic re-letting,”
he said.
A trading update to the
company’s shareholders
showed a dip in revenue both
compared to prior compara-
ble period last year and in
the context of current budget
targets as economic activity
remains subdued in the local
economy.
“Revenue at $1,9 million was
7 percent below last year
($2,1 million) and 2 percent
below budget. The decline
was due to falling occupancy
levels and downward rent
reviews,” said Mr Mahari.
Over the past few years rent
reductions have been gener-
ally high on the local prop-
erty market as property own-
ers have tended to concede
in order to keep properties
occupied.
However the CEO said “strat-
egies are in place to ensure
that we attract any new qual-
ity tenants on the market.”
For Mashonaland Holdings,
since the fourth quarter
of last year voids have
remained largely stable at 26
732 square metres, repre-
senting 25 percent of the
lettable portfolio.
The company’s property
expenses at $493 669 were
1 percent up from last year
and 11 percent above the
current budget of $445 992.
According to management
the key drivers of these
expenses were mainly voids
related costs (at 40 percent),
provision of credit losses (23
percent) and property man-
agement costs (23 percent).
Administration expenses at
$0,7 million were 3 per-
cent above same period last
year and 17 percent above
budget.
And operating profit at $0,8
million was 19 percent below
both the comparable period
last year and current budget,
although management is
confident that its revenue
growth and cost containment
strategies are set to improve
the operating profit.●

3. BH243

4. By Funny Hudzerema
HARARE – State-owned
Zimpost is targeting 25
percent growth in business
this year after introducing an
advanced system of sending
mail to replace the tradi-
tional one of using stamps.
The new system which was
introduced by Zimpost is a
partnership with EasiMail
called Remote Meter System
uses the Franking Machine
which is reset within seconds
using LAN thereby eliminat-
ing the need for clients to
queue at the post office to
buy stamps.
All mail and parcels will be
processed from the custom-
er's office without going
to the post office. Zimpost
acting managing director Mr
Joel Katsande said the new
system is a substitute of the
traditional methods of send-
ing parcels which has been
on a decline during the past
decades due to improvement
in technology.
“We still feel that in 2016 we
can achieve about 20 to 25
percent growth in business
because there are other initi-
atives that we are putting in
place outside the mail busi-
ness, we are now focusing on
agent business and financial
services. With these initia-
tives we are confident that
we can achieve our target
growth.
“Globally the mail business
was losing customers and we
have seen that there is need
to introduce other initia-
tives to boost the sector but
currently the mail business is
contributing 20 to 25 percent
to turnover,” he said.
EasiMail will sell the Frank-
ing machine for Remote
Meter System to customers
while Zimpost will be paid
by customers to send their
products.
An EasiMail franking machine
can be used for all types of
mail- normal mail, registered
mail, expedited mail, air-
mail, and with additional or
optional weigh platform the
applicable rates will also be
calculated automatically.
The migration of Zimpost
from mechanical franking
machines to Remote Meter
Setting system eliminates
postage fraud and increases
revenue security, therefore
benefiting both Zimpost and
their customers in numerous
value added ways.
Officially launching the
product Deputy Minister of
Information Communication,
Postal and Courier Services
Dr Win Mlambo said the part-
nership between Zimpost and
EasiMail will assist to boost
Zimpost.
“This partnership ladies and
gentleman, helps Zimpost
add value to a product that
was on the decline. However
this has been overtaken by
technological developments
and there was need for
Zimpost to react in tandem
to these developments if the
company wanted to remain
afloat,” he said.
He added that it has been
noted that on average values
between 18-20 percent of
increased revenue have been
realised by postal authori-
ties who introduced a similar
remote meter setting sys-
tem. ●
4 news
Zimpost eyes 25pc growth

5. BH245

6. By Rutendo Rori
HARARE – Zimbabwe has
launched the local chap-
ter of the Federation of the
National Associations of
Women in Business (FEM-
COM), which is expected to
link Zimbabwean business
women to markets in the
Eastern and Southern African
region.
FEMCOM is a legal entity
of the Common Market for
Eastern and Southern Africa
(Comesa) regional bloc.
Speaking at the launch FEM-
COM Secretariat executive
director Ms Katherine Ichoya
said FEMCOM members
should take advantage of the
Memoranda of Understanding
(MOU’s) which the Com-
mon Market for Eastern and
Southern Africa (COMESA)
engaged in.
“COMESA signed Memoranda
of Understanding between
the Indian, Turkey, and
Australian governments.
We have to take advantage
of these MOU’s our father
COMESA engaged in.
“We need to ensure that
we categorise ourselves in
sectors where our passion is.
We want to make sure that
Zimbabwe is raising the flag
of FEMCOM high,” said Ms
Ichoya. Women Affairs, Gen-
der and Community Develop-
ment Minister Nyasha Chik-
winya said the Zimbabwean
Chapter of FEMCOM will help
Zimbabwean business women
to enhance their trade activi-
ties in the region.
“We want this launch to be a
window of opportunities by
linking women to markets
in the Eastern and Southern
region so that this robust
program becomes a sustain-
able reality. Our women are
already organized in the sec-
tors of agriculture, fisheries,
tourism, industry, services,
mining, transport and energy
and they are rearing to go,”
she said.
“It is my sincere hope that
as we continue this invig-
orating journey together,
we will see more women
involved in exports and
therefore an increase in the
country’s Gross Domestic
Product.” ●
6 news
Ms Katherine Ichoya
Comesa launches FEMCOM Chapter in Zim

7. BH247

8. BH248

9. HARARE - Cable manufac-
turer, Cafca said on Wednes-
day it will report a massive
drop in profitability for the
half-year ended March this
year compared to the same
period last year on the
back of low sales in both the
domestic and export markets.
In a profit warning statement,
the company said its turno-
ver is anticipated to slide 30
percent, hitting on its basic
and headline earnings per
share, which are expected to
slump about 75 percent to 0,6
cents from 2,59 cents in the
previous reporting period.
“Profitability has been
adversely affected by the
anticipated 30 percent drop
in turnover from both a drop
in local sales due to lack of
liquidity in the market and a
drop in export sales due to
foreign exchange shortages
and devaluation in our pri-
mary export market curren-
cies to the United States dol-
lar,” said the Honour Mkushi
chaired Cafca board.
Cafca predominantly exports
to South Africa but also had
Zambia and Mozambique as
target markets.
In the prior period end-
ing March last year, Cafca
recorded a 41 percent surge
in revenue to $14 million
driven by improved local sales
and exports. Volumes grew
by 72 percent but contribution
to revenue was restricted by
poor prices on both the local
and export markets.
The latest profit warning was
in line with Johannesburg
Stock Exchange listing rules
which require that firms to
update the market when there
was a “reasonable degree of
certainty” that financial per-
formance would be at least
20 percent below the previous
corresponding period. Cafca
is also listed on the Zimba-
bwe Stock Exchange.- New
Ziana.●
9 news
Cafca warns of profit slump

10. BH2410

11. HARARE - The mainstream
industrial index recovered 0.13
to close at 99.33 after yester-
day’s blip that had halted two
consecutive gains.
Giant telecoms Econet Wireless
was up $0,0077 to trade at
$0,2279 and beverages pro-
ducer Delta gained $0,0025 to
close at $0,5325.
On the downside, tobacco
giant BAT led the shakers with
a $0,0621 loss to settle at
$11,4379, while Colcom lost
$0,0150 to trade at $0,1450
and Innscor was $0,0055 lower
at $0,1840.
The mining index was flat at
18.74 points as Bindura, Fal-
gold, Hwange and RioZim again
maintained previous price levels
at $0,0090, $0,0050, $0,0300
and $0,1040 respectively -
BH24 Reporter ●
ZSE11
Equities in quick bounce back

12. BH2412

13. Movers CHANGE Today Price USc SHAKERS Change TODAY Price USc
Econet 3.49 22.79 Colcom -9.37 14.50
Delta 0.47 53.25 Innscor -2.90 18.40
Truworths -1.23 0.80
BAT -0.54 1,143.79
Index Previous Today Move Change
Industrial 99.20 99.33 +0.13 points +0.13%
Mining 18.74 18.74 +0.00 points +0.00%
13 zse tables
ZSE
Indices
Stock Exchange
Previous
02 03
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14. BH2414

15. BH2415

16. 16 DIARY OF EVENTS
The black arrow indicate level of load shedding across the country.
POWER GENERATION STATS
Gen Station
25 February 2016
Energy
(Megawatts)
Hwange 271 MW
Kariba 285 MW
Harare 30 MW
Munyati 30 MW
Bulawayo 22 MW
Imports 0 - 300 MW
Total 1003 MW
25 February 2016 - Extraordinary General Meeting (“EGM”) of the Shareholders of Radar Holdings Limited; Place: Tanganyika
House, 6th Floor Boardroom, Harare; Time: 0900 hours...
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

17. BH2417

18. JOHANNESBURG - South
Africa's rand weakened today
after a budget speech by
the finance minister that
failed to convince investors
the country was on track to
turn around its bleak growth
prospects.
Stocks were set to open
higher at 0700 GMT, with the
JSE securities exchange's
Top-40 futures index up 0,8
percent.
At 0645 GMT, the rand had
slipped 0,22 percent to
15,6295 per dollar, a one-
week trough wiping out the
unit's recent rally to a two-
month high.
Bonds regained recent
momentum, with the yield on
the benchmark paper due in
2026 down 10.5 basis points
to 9,27 percent.
"What was obvious was that
Pravin Gordhan had no abil-
ity to announce wider micro-
economic structural reforms
that will boost growth in
the medium run and bring
back investor confidence,"
emerging markets analyst at
Nomura Peter Attard Mon-
talto said.
Early yesterday, Finance Min-
ister Gordhan told a confer-
ence that the treasury would
impose more spending cuts
if economic growth remained
below 1 percent in the next
two years.
Gordhan announced a pack-
age of spending cuts, public
sector job freezes and mod-
erate tax hikes on property
sales, fuel and alcohol on
Wednesday in a speech to
convince investors and rat-
ings agencies that the gov-
ernment could cut spending
and boost growth.
But markets reacted
adversely, with the currency
tumbling more than 3 per-
cent and bond yields spiking
in the immediate aftermath.
"We never expected that
the budget would be good
enough to avoid a downgrade
to junk. However, the gov-
ernment has perhaps bought
some time," said currency
analyst at Rand Merchant
Bank John Cairns- Reuters●
regioNAL News18
Rand on the backfoot after budget disappoints

19. BH2419

20. Oil declined as expanding US
crude inventories kept supplies
at the highest level in more
than eight decades.
Futures lost as much as 1,6
percent, erasing a 0,9 percent
gain Wednesday. Stockpiles
increased for a second week to
507,6 million barrels, the most
since 1930, according to an
Energy Information Admin-
istration report. Prices won’t
recover until the second half
of next year at the earliest,
Mexican Energy Minister Pedro
Joaquin Coldwell said at a con-
ference in Houston, estimating
that the market is oversup-
plied by about 2 million bar-
rels a day.
“Any rally is going to be sub-
dued primarily because of the
large inventory levels,” David
Lennox, an analyst at Fat
Prophets in Sydney, said by
phone. “We expect the volatil-
ity to ease, but the risks are
still to the downside.”
Oil is down about 14 percent
this year on speculation a
global glut will be prolonged
amid brimming US stockpiles
and the outlook for increased
exports from Iran after the
removal of international
sanctions. US driller Continen-
tal Resources Inc. halted all
fracking in the Bakken shale
region after posting its first
annual loss since the compa-
ny’s public debut in 2007.
West Texas Intermediate for
April delivery fell as much as
52 cents to $31,63 a barrel
on the New York Mercantile
Exchange and was at $31,71
at 8:11 a.m. London time.
The contract rose 28 cents
to $32,15 Wednesday. Total
volume traded was about 50
percent above the 100-day
average.
U.S. Supplies
Brent for April settlement lost
as much as 56 cents, or 1,6
percent, to $33,85 a barrel on
the London-based ICE Futures
Europe exchange. The con-
tract advanced $1,14, or 3,4
percent, to $34,41 on Wednes-
day. The European benchmark
crude was at a premium of
$2,21 to WTI.
* U.S. crude stockpiles
expanded by 3,5 million
barrels through Feb. 19,
while supplies at the nation’s
biggest oil-storage hub rose
for a fourth week to a record
65,1 million barrels compared
with a working capacity of 73
million.
* Production declined for a
fifth week to 9,1 million bar-
rels a day; gasoline inven-
tories dropped 2,2 million
barrels from the highest level
since January 1990.
* Mexico is willing to partici-
pate in a meeting with global
producers to discuss a poten-
tial output freeze, Minister
Coldwell said.-Bloomberg●
internatioNAL News20
Oil declines as US crude stockpiles expand further amid glut

21. BH2421

22. By Chris Vermeulen
*Africa’s internal trade deals
look good on paper. A pity
that they are rarely followed
Two of the largest regional
trade accords in history
were agreed last year. The
Trans-Pacific Partnership
involves 12 countries in Asia
and the Americas, and was
the subject of headlines and
heated debate. But most
people have never heard of
the Tripartite Free Trade Area
(TFTA), which covers 26 Afri-
can countries. It will create
the biggest free-trade area on
the continent, “from Cairo to
the Cape”, as its supporters
boast.
Many in the developing world
see trade as rigged in favour
of rich countries. But African
regional integration is all the
rage. The continent features
17 trade blocs. The TFTA aims
to join up three of them:
the East African Community
(EAC), the Southern African
Development Community
(SADC) and the Common
Market for Eastern and South-
ern Africa (COMESA). At a
conference on African busi-
ness on February 20th-21st in
the Egyptian resort of Sharm
el-Sheikh, several leaders
called for a united African
market.
An abundance of borders has
long separated the continent’s
54 countries, limiting econo-
mies of scale. Fixing common
problems such as a shortage
of roads takes teamwork—and
in turn should lead to more
integration. Average trans-
port costs in Africa are twice
the world average and are
thought to harm trade on the
continent more than tariffs
and other barriers.
A shame, then, that regional
economic deals are often
poorly implemented. An Afri-
can firm selling goods on the
continent still faces an aver-
age protection rate of 8,7 per-
cent, compared to 2,5 percent
overseas, according to the
UN Conference on Trade and
Development (UNCTAD). That
is one reason why intra-Af-
rican trade as a percentage
of total African trade, though
increasing, is well below what
is seen in other poor regions.
Nearly all African countries
are party to more than one
regional agreement. The
overlapping allegiances can
tie them in knots. Members of
COMESA, for example, must
impose a common external
tariff on goods of non-mem-
bers. But several members
are also in the SADC free-
trade area, which requires
lower tariffs on goods from
some non-COMESA states.
The TFTA is meant to iron out
these differences, but the
details are still to be decided.
African countries vary in size,
22 analysis22 analysis
Tear down Africa's trade walls

23. 23 analysis23 analysis
geography and resources, so
trade deals affect each differ-
ently. Manufacturing tends to
cluster in big countries such
as Kenya, Nigeria and South
Africa. Small agricultural
producers fear being swamped
with food from larger neigh-
bours. There are no mecha-
nisms for helping the losers.
So it is difficult to convince
countries to make sacrifices in
order to increase trade.
Whether to protect their
dominance or avoid hard-
ship, most countries revert
to protectionism. Take the
Economic Community of West
African States (ECOWAS). It is
meant to be a customs union,
but has an extensive list of
exceptions. Two decades after
it promised free movement of
people, goods and transport,
implementation is weak. East
Africa does better, but Karim
Sadek, the director of Rift
Valley Railways in Kenya and
Uganda, says that what would
make his life easier would
be not having to stop at the
border. “You get used to the
inefficiencies.”
Non-tariff barriers are not
only an African problem.
Product standards and rules
of origin are used by America
to block Mexican goods under
NAFTA. But evidence cited by
UNCTAD suggests that the
reduction of tariffs in Africa
has led to an increase in the
use of other obstacles. In
SADC such protectionism has
resulted in more imports from
non-SADC countries. Clothes,
for example, are required to
be both manufactured and
sourced in SADC countries to
qualify for preferences. Since
few textiles are produced in
the region, the rules have
stifled trade in garments.
Bureaucracy is expen-
sive to overcome. Accord-
ing to research by Nick
Charalambides of Imani
Development, a consultancy,
Shoprite, a South African
retailer, spent $5,8m deal-
ing with red tape in 2009 in
order to gain $13,6m in duty
savings under SADC. Others
avoid the hassle of customs:
informal trade is thought to
provide income to over 40
percent of Africa’s population.
Some think Africa needs to
approach trade differently.
“The first question that should
be asked is: what can we
trade with each other?” says
Bineswaree Bolaky of UNC-
TAD. Often the answer is: not
much. Most African countries
produce a narrow range of
goods and have export sectors
geared towards supplying rich
countries. Few have signif-
icant manufacturing bases
and, unlike in developing
Asian countries, there is little
trade in inputs or services
that might lead to African
chains of production.
The volume of intra-African
trade is so small that fixing
these problems, and upgrad-
ing the continent’s infrastruc-
ture, may not seem worth the
expense to some countries. So
UNCTAD recommends creating
an integration fund, financed
by relatively rich African
states, to pave new roads
and build export capacity in
poorer countries. The African
Development Bank handed out
over $1 billion in the past two
years with the explicit aim of
boosting intra-African trade.
But that risks becoming an
objective in and of itself. “You
still need to be flogging stuff
to big countries,” says Alan
Winters of the University of
Sussex.
In their zeal to integrate,
African leaders may also be
using the wrong model. Broad
and shallow agreements are
the norm, but the continent’s
most successful economic bloc
consists of just five countries.
EAC members keep good data,
and a public scorecard holds
them accountable for non-tar-
iff barriers.
“There you have a small group
of countries that is taking it
seriously and making some
progress,” says Jaime de Melo
of the University of Geneva.
Talk of a common currency in
East Africa and even a polit-
ical federation do not seem
far-fetched. It is a stretch to
think that the TFTA will lead
to anything similar. – The
Economist●