03 Feb 2015

Botswana Development Corporation (BDC) has begun a journey to recovery after showing steady gains in financial performance for the year ended June 2014.

BDC’s acting chief financial officer, Ms Magdeline Tsiane, said the group realised a profit before tax of P35.7million representing a 166 per cent increase over the previous year, with a statement of financial position also growing by 15% to P3.6 billion from P3.2 billion. 

Ms Tsiane stated that the net assets of the company stood at P2.5 billion, a 12% increase on the previous year, and that the company’s revenue grew from P101.7 million to P150.4 million, representing a 48% increase from the previous year. 

However, the results showed that the group’s revenue declined by 10% from P317.9 million in the previous year to P286.8 million in the current year, she said.  The stand-in CEO said that BDC experienced a loss before tax of P67.1 million at company level, against a loss before tax of P222.2 million in the previous year. 

“The loss at company level is significantly less than the loss the previous year and is reflective of key initiatives taken to manage operating costs and improve collections,” she added. 

The managing director of BDC, Mr Bashi Gaetsaloe said the slowdown in revenue at group level reflected the challenges and changes that the organisation was dealing with within its subsidiary and associate company structures. 

Mr Gaetsaloe said 2014 had been a year of transformation and that after a deep introspection they had embarked in a remodeling programme that displayed early signs of success.

He said they would also rebuild trust with stakeholders and subsequently help BDC emerge as a leading investment company. He added that, despite the challenges they had for the year under review, losses continued to shrink.

He highlighted that BDC’s Strategic Plan was to double the business in five years and focus on commercially viable projects that could pioneer new industries, unlock value in existing industries, stimulate private sector growth, drive diversification and exports, among others.

He also gave a positive outlook of the company on their road to recovery. ENDS