Story of the Day
Nestled in the heart of the Gwembe Valley, Maamba Collieries Limited (MCL) is spread over an expanse of over 8,000 hectares that, at first glance, looks like just another coal mine with an integrated mine-mouth thermal power plant – abuzz with the industrial hubbub of complex engineering and heavy earth-moving machinery. But this industrial giant, unique in Zambia in that its operations cover mining and generation of baseload power for the nation, is undertaking numerous activities beyond its operational mandate. Read more
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The kwacha ZMW= will likely gain next week due to sustained central bank support and favourable sentiment after Zambia’s official creditors assured that they would restructure its debt. On Thursday, commercial banks quoted the currency of Africa’s second-largest copper producer at 16.1800 per dollar from 16.2300 at the close of business a week ago. “The local unit is projected to maintain a streak of gains in the short to medium term as positive sentiment surrounding the country’s positive stride to debt restructuring continues to boost the kwacha’s performance,” Access Bank said in a note. Read more: Nasdaq
Finance and National Planning Minister Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane says Zambians can’t see how heavily indebted the country is because of prudent measures that government has taken. In an interview, Dr Musokotwane said if the government was to resume servicing Zambia’s debt, people would witness what was happening under PF like the collapse of the exchange rate and rapid increase in the cost of living. Read more: News Diggers
The Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) targets to establish a tax collection Unit for Small and Medium Scale Mines next year to address low tax compliance. ZRA Commissioner General Dingani Banda says only about 171 small, medium and artisanal mines last year declared mineral royalties despite the country having over 2400 mines registered for tax. Read more: ZNBC
Northern Coffee Corporation Limited -NCCL- has invested over 70 million United States dollars in the last 10 years in its five coffee estates currently running in Northern Province. NCCL Director, Medu Medappa disclosed that the company has about 2,100 hectares of cultivated coffee out of a total acreage of 7,200 at its five estates. Mr Medappa told ZANIS in Kasama that the company is currently in search of more land for it to expand its investments. Read more: ZNBC
International Business and Finance
Pan-African telecom group, MTN Group Limited, has released its unaudited interim financial statements for the half-year period ended June 30, 2022. A copy of the financial report obtained by Business Insider Africa, showed that the company grew its revenue by 14.8% to $6 billion. The revenue growth was driven by data sales, especially in Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and South Africa. MTN Group also generated significant revenue through its fintech business which grew by 14.0% during the period under review. Also, MTN Group’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 15.1% to $2.7 billion, even as the EBITDA margin expanded by 0.3 percentage points to 45.3%. Meanwhile, profit after tax for the period stood at $640.4 million, a significant increase when compared to $252.5 million recorded during the same period in 2021. Read more: Business Insider
Africa’s most valuable fintech, Flutterwave, is said to be considering an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in the US and Nigeria. The IPO would see Flutterwave’s shares listed on the New York Stock Exchange and possibly the Nigerian Exchange. Sources familiar with the situation told Bloomberg that the recent recruitments into key positions at Flutterwave were all in preparations for the IPO. Read more: Business Insider
The UK economy shrank between April and June, official figures show. The economy contracted by 0.1% in the second quarter of the year, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. That compares to the first three months of this year when gross domestic product (GDP) – which measures economic activity – grew. The Bank of England has forecast the UK will fall into recession towards the end of this year and the downturn will last for the entirety of next year. Read more: BBC News
Argentina’s central bank has raised its main rate of interest to 69.5% as it tries to contain soaring inflation. The bank put up its 28-day benchmark rate by 9.5% percentage points, its second hike in as many weeks. It comes as new figures showed inflation in the country had hit a 20-year high of over 70%. Read more: BBC News
Capital Markets Report
In 99 trades recorded yesterday, 41,581 shares were transacted resulting in a turnover of K112,420. Share price gains were recorded in Standard Chartered Zambia of K0.02, Zambeef of K0.05, Zanaco of K0.01 and in CEC Africa – on the quoted tier of K0.16. Trading activity was also recorded in AECI, Airtel, Copperbelt Energy Corporation, Chilanga Cement, Madison Financial Services and ZAMEFA. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 6,963,78 points, 0.21% up from its previous close of 6,949.35 points. The market closed on a capitalization of K71,243,753,248 including Shoprite Holdings and K36,461,067,808 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
