HARARE – ZIMPLOW which is the largest manufacturer and distributor of farming implements in sub-Saharan Africa, reported an impressive performances across its units in the first half of 2018, citing increased demand for its products owing to a positive sentiment and growth in the underlying economy.

Zimplow operates through five divisions, namely, Barzem, Mealie Brand, CT Bolts, Farmec and Powermec.

In a report accompanying the financials, Zimplow said it achieved a plausible performance across the company’s divisions, with the exemption of the mealie brand division where revenue went down by 22 percent from $4.3 million in the prior year to $3.4 million weighed by regional sales.

“Exports came off attributed to the absence of the Angolan export order which is expected in the second half of the year,” reads the statement.

Revenue for the Barzem unit went up by 47 percent to $7.1 million from $4.8 million reported in the prior year largely on the back of increased parts and service revenue.

Parts revenue went up 64 percent from $2.4 million to $3.9 million and service hours were up 69 percent to 5139 hours. The unit swung from a loss in 2017 to profitability for H1 2018.

The Farmec division realized a  103 percent growth from $3.8 in the first half of 2017 to $7.7 million in the period under review, driven by an increase in tractor sales from 44 units to 98 units, with hours sold up 35 percent to 5474 hours.

CT Bolts revenues went up 54 percent to $863 thousand from $560 thousand while maintaining stable margins.

“The unit continues to perform well in its market segment and is well stocked and positioned to perform ahead of budget,” said management in a statement.

Zimplow entered into a direct distributorship agreement with Perkins in early 2018 which gave the Powermec unit a stronger footing and security of business. This saw the parts business and services hours growing by 42 and 32 percent respectively compared to same period last year.

The group noted that the parts and services revenues compensated for the 33 percent decline in gensets sales.

However, powermec’s profitability remained flat at $135 thousand.

Overall, the group’s revenue grew by 38 percent to $20.3 million during the period under review from $14.7 million recorded in the same period last year.

Operating profit quintupled to $2.3 million from $373 000 achieved in the same period last year. Resultant profit after tax was also up 500 percent to $1.6 million from $263 thousand recorded in first half year, 2017.