01 Feb 2016

The Botswana Development Corporation (BDC) and Botswana Telecommunications Limited (BTCL) made an impressive turnaround to record profit in 2015, a year that parastatals recorded mixed results.

The Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Mr Kenneth Matambo, stated this while presenting the 2016/17 budget speech in Parliament, yesterday.

He said BDC had made a net profit of P202.2 million after a net loss of P7.8 million in 2014, while BTCL recorded a net profit of P146.8 million in 2015, a much improved figure from their P140 000 profit of 2014.

“The lower profit in 2014 for BTCL was attributed to the impairment charged for the significant drop in the value of the company, as a result of the transfer of some of its assets to BOFINET.  Meanwhile, an Initial Public Offer (IPO), was launched in December 2015, which provided an opportunity for Batswana to own shares in BTCL.  So far the response has been overwhelming.  Eventually, the BTCL shares will be listed in the Botswana Stock Exchange to allow for their trading,” Mr Matambo said.

He also revealed that the P31.7 million profit recorded by the Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority was a slight decline from the P48.1 million recorded in 2014.

This, he said, was “mainly due to a fall in operating revenues owing to tariff reductions for essential services and a rise in operating expenses due to acquisition and replacement of network equipment as well as digital migration.”

Furthermore, Mr Matambo said the Botswana Housing Corporation (BHC) and  Botswana Savings Bank (BSB) had also recorded profit margins that were less than the previous year. “The BHC recorded a net profit of P9.8 million in 2015, a decrease of 39.9 per cent, from P16.3 million in 2014, as a result of its outreach programme that increased its staff costs and the construction of social housing projects.  BSB’s net profit declined marginally to P12.2 million in 2015, compared to P12.8 million in 2014, due to increased competition in the domestic banking sector,” he said. The Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) recorded the largest net loss amongst  parastatals , amounting  to P367 million in 2015 up from P361 million in 2014.

The minister attributed the  continued poor performance (of the WUC) to prolonged drought spells which increased water transfer cost and provision of additional water sources. Mr Matambo further announced loses recorded by Air Botswana (P165 million), which he said was due to high costs of maintenance of its old fleet of aircrafts and the National Development Bank (P37.2 million).  

The Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) whose last audited financial statements are from 2014 had registered a net loss of P9.6 million, after a net profit of P25 million in 2013. Ends