Simbisa to sink US$17,8m in FY25 for expansion, modernisation

FAST-FOOD company, Simbisa Brands Limited, has set aside US$17,8 million to open 36 new stores and revamp 36 existing units in its financial year ending June 30, 2025, as part of its strategic priorities.

In its report for the year ended June 30, 2023, Simbisa announced it would open 92 new stores at a total cost of more than US$22 million in the following comparative year.

The opening of new stores is in pursuant of the new group strategy to focus on its best-performing, core brands.

“As we look to the future, our strategic priorities include not only expanding our store network but also the modernisation and revamping of existing outlets to enhance customer experience. We are targeting to open 36 new stores in FY25 and revamp 36 stores at a total cost of US$17,8 million,” chairperson Addington Chinake said in a statement attached to Simbisa’s financial year report for the period ended June 30, 2024.

“Six shops will be closed or rationalised. In addition, a restructure of some of the group’s property investments will occur in the financial year ending June 30, 2025. The group will focus on increasing its’ customer numbers and product range.”

He said they were exploring potential strategic raw material sourcing within the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa market, which would optimise the supply chain and mitigate some of the external economic pressures the group faced.

“The upgrade of a group wide enterprise resource planning system has been successful and resulted in better real-time financial reporting,” Chinake said.

“In line with our goal to become more customer-focused, we have introduced a customer feedback platform for tracking and analysing customer feedback in all our markets.”

The group has outlets in Zimbabwe, Kenya, Eswatini, Zambia, Ghana and Mauritius.

“The group continued to grow its brand network and market share through new store openings of the core and casual dining brands during the year under review. Between June 30, 2023 and June 30, 2024, the group opened 73 new counters in Kenya and Zimbabwe, while nine counters were closed,” Simbisa chief executive officer Basil Dionisio said.

“The group closed the period with 601 company-operated counters and a total of 714 counters, including franchised markets. Efforts to increase the revenue contribution from delivery channels are ongoing,” Dionisio said.

“Simbisa continues to grow its market share in the delivery space without significantly impacting margins by using application-exclusive offers to drive volumes and revenue growth through delivery channels.”-newsda