Cambria revenue rises 38%

REVENUE at multinational investment firm Cambria Africa grew by 38% in the six months to February 28, 2022, compared to the same period prior year, mostly due to increased income from Tradanet, one of its subsidiaries.

The London Stock Exchange-listed firm has a significant presence in Zimbabwe through the Payserv Group.

Payserv Group is Zimbabwe’s leading provider of payments and business process outsourcing services targeted at financial and related sectors.

The group comprises four business units, Paynet Zimbabwe, AutoPay, Loanserv (Tradanet) and Softserv. According to financial results for the six months ended February 28, 2022, revenue rose to US$724 000 in the period under review compared to US$526 000 in the prior period.

This was due to Tradanet (Loanserv) revenue increasing significantly.

Profit after tax increased 153%, driven by asset sales and above break-even operations, to
US$240 000 while consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation shot 46% higher compared to US$205 000 achieved in the prior year.

Chief executive Samir Shasha said due to volatile exchange rates and inflation, the firm will be investing excess funds into a diversified portfolio on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange to preserve value.

“Regardless, we anticipate slower growth in the US dollar value of Tradanet’s loan processing portfolio as a consequence of inflation and devaluation. Similarly, we expect a decline in the real value of our payroll processing revenues. However, both operations should continue to trade at cashflow break-even levels.”

Cambria’s central costs decreased by 75% to US$13 000 as Shasha and other directors continued to render services without compensation during the review period.

Foreign currency translation losses of US$194 000 and losses attributable to hyperinflationary accounting recorded in this period were due to the depreciation of the Zimbabwean currency against the US dollar.

Excluding minority interests, profit attributable to Cambria shareholders was US$46 000 for the review period, down from US$72 000 recorded in the same period last year.

“The company’s subsidiaries in Zimbabwe continued to operate above break-even. Millchem Zimbabwe’s product sales in its joint venture with Merken, have slowed down significantly as predicted in prior communications,” the company said.

The company’s net asset value dropped to US$6,32 million in the review period due to the downward revaluation of the company’s business premises by US$200 000 during the 2021 year-end audit.

Finance costs decreased to US$7 000 from US$13 000 recorded in the prior period. It said finance costs will continue to fall as the group’s outstanding debt nears zero.

Current debt owing to Ventures Africa Limited stands at US$106 000 which will be repaid in full by the end of the 2022 financial year, the company said.-newsday