23 Nov 2017

Botswana Development Corporation (BDC) has maintained profitability despite hostile economic environment.

Although the 2016/2017 financial year was demanding, it was also rewarding at the same time for the corporation, which saw a decline in financial revenues in the year ending June 30, 2017.

“I am proud to be reporting on our performance as despite the continued uncertain economic climate, we managed to record a profit and deliver dividends to the shareholder for the second year running,” said BDC managing director, Mr Bashi Gaetsaloe at the release of financial statements and annual stakeholders breakfast meeting in Gaborone on November 22.

The managing director explained that the year saw mixed performance patterns across the group of companies, with some companies feeling industry pressures while some made strides in merging history of subdued performance.

He said throughout the past year, BDC delivered both a financial and a significant development return to the shareholder.

“The Corporation has been focused on driving business growth, continuous building of the credit profile, optimising the capital structure, improving asset quality and consolidating internal efficiencies,” he said.

Mr Gaetsaloe explained that the focus in the following year and into the midterm would be in four areas being rapid conversion of pipeline, execution of general transactions, maintaining profitability and increasing contributions to the shareholders.

Mr Gaetsaloe explained further that driving this performance was an unwavering commitment to executing the five-year strategic plan, which was already half way through.

He explained that BDC, which was an investment arm of the government, was looking forward to working with all stakeholders to build not only a profitable company, but more importantly, to build a more competitive and prosperous Botswana.

When delivering the financial highlights, the chief financial officer, Dr Mbako Mbo explained that this year’s financial performance was expected.

He further advised that the corporation was quite upbeat about future projections, but remained fairly cautious.

He further advised that the business, which was normalising post transformation, was still on a profitable path, and continued to pay dividends to the shareholders, in line with its mandate.

Mr Mbo said the total company income closed the year at P273 million while equity assets contributed 53 per cent to the overall income, followed by income earned from debt and near debt assets at 27 per cent.

Profit before tax stands at P150 million.

The BDC was founded in 1970 and is today one of the biggest investors in the country with investment in excess of P1 billion.

Forty years ago, mining was the main driver of the country’s economy and the BDC was established with a firm mandate to develop the country’s commercial and industrial landscape with the primary aim being to reduce the dependency on mining. ENDS