Profits fall by 21 percent
Sechaba Brewery Holdings Limited (SBHL) has announced that its associate, Kgalagadi Breweries Limited (KBL) has suffered a 21 percent drop in profits after tax for the period ended 31 December 2020.
This follows a tough trading year for the liquor industry following two bans on liquor trade with the other ban lasting for two months.
For the period under review, KBL registered a profit after tax of P239.5 million, from P302.7 million recorded in the same period last year.
This came on the backdrop of KBL volumes sold declining by 29 percent during the course of 2020.
Sechaba has blamed the falling profits on the measures taken to control the spread of Covid-19 in the country such as the cancellation of the sale of alcohol and the reduction in operating hours of restaurants and other outlets that would otherwise have traded in the products of the company.
Following a tough trading year characterized by lockdowns and a ban on alcohol sales, Kgalagadi Breweries Limited (KBL) holding company, Sechaba Holdings Limited (SBHL) has advised shareholders to expect a drop in profits for the year ended 31 December 2020. In a notice to shareholders this week, the company warned that the profit before tax […]
PHILLIMON MMESO
The ban on the sale of alcohol, which has seen the largest alcohol producer and distributor Kgalagadi Breweries Limited (KBL) suspending its operations, has now torn cabinet apart.
Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Edwin Dikoloti announced on Janaury 03 that government had taken a decision to suspend the sale of alcohol with immediate effect.
“During the restriction on movement, the following shall apply with immediate effect: the sale of alcohol is suspended. Consumption of liquor in public places is also suspended,” he announced to the shock of the industry players.
During a cabinet meeting held on Wednesday which was to make determination on whether to lift suspension on the sale of alcohol, cabinet ministers are said to be bitterly divided over the issue.
After a bruising 2020, huge taxes to impoverish ordinary citizens
Alcohol ban haunts government coffers
BAKANG TIRO
editors@thepatriot.co.bw
The Deputy Secretary General of Botswana Federation of Public, Private and Parastatal Workers Union (BOFEPUSU) Ketlhalefile Motshegwa said government intention to retrench workers is bad move.
Motshegwa said the pronouncement by Matsheka that 50% of government vacant posts will be scrapped off would result in a serious economic depression amidst higher unemployment level. He is worried that the country would be thrown deeper into economic depression adding that Botswana doesn’t have a large vibrant private sector that create jobs while government cannot.
7th February 2021
The alcohol industry is in a fighting mood and seems poised to take the fight back to government if that is what it will take to get alcohol outlets reopened.
A government decision announced late last week to continue for at least a month with the curfew and a full alcohol ban as a way of arresting the runaway Covid-19 wave surge has left the alcohol industry with no choice but to consider some of the extreme options available to them.
One such option,
Sunday Standard has learnt is to approach the courts for a relief.
A similar decision to approach the courts by alcohol industry was tried recently in South Africa but achieved little success.