Minister of Finance, Honorable Margaret Mwanakatwe has since called on state owned enterprises (SOEs) to improve their operations and to pay dividends to the government. She was speaking when she received a cheque of K3.6million from Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Investment Holdings (ZCCM-IH) to its major shareholder National NAPSA and the Ministry of Finance. Mrs. Mwanakatwe said that the dividends will help government meet some of its financial obligations.

Earlier ZCCMIH Chief Executive Officer Dr Pius Kasolo said K20.3million has been paid to NAPSA representing 15% shareholding while K23.3million has been availed to the Ministry of Finance. Dr. Kasolo said ZCCMIH will continue to pay dividends to the government as a way of contributing to the growth of the economy. NAPSA Board chairperson Marian Munyima said dividends will help the authority to grow its investment portfolio which now stands at K25billion.

“We have had some tough challenges with our partners but things have been sorted and we appreciate the support that the Minister has given ZCCM -IH and in terms of the way forward, my team and I are hoping that things will only get better through the copper prices going up and the economy price going up. We hope that most of the mining companies will be involved in these situations, so that they can also declare dividends accordingly,” Dr. Pius Kasolo said.

“It’s pleasing that a company grows it’s profit after tax by 125% coming from a loss of K2.2billion to a profit of K728million, that is not a small achievement and I want to encourage you to count on my support in ensuring that you can continue to bring about these dividends because you are working in a sector that is the largest part of this economy. And when we do not see dividends, we wonder why you are still a shareholder in these mining companies,” Mwanakatwe said.

“We are working in close co-operation with the executive management to oversee all investments, ensuring that they are in accordance with investment protocols and requirements. We have even gained support from the government to which we are grateful that they provided an environment to which we can execute our mandate and ensure that we continue to report positive gains on the fund as can be evidenced by the growth of the investment portfolio which now stands at K25billion and we expect it to end the year 2018 at K27billion,” NAPSA Board Chairperson Marian Munyinda said.

Zambia’s Head of State earlier issued a directive to the Industrial Development Corporation to work towards having all stated owned parastatals listed on the local bourse.

Lusaka Securities Exchange – LuSE listed ZCCM-IH is a state owned mining investment vehicle that manages the states stake in mining companies in Africa’s second largest copper producer, Zambia. As at 2pm ZCCM-IH shares were trading for K38 per share.

Source: Zambia Business Times

ZCCM Investments Holdings Plc (“ZCCM-IH” or “the Company”) is delighted to announce that the Company has been granted two onshore Oil and Gas exploration licenses by the Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development of Zambia (“MoMMD”). The two licensed oil blocks are situated in the Western and Muchinga provinces of Zambia. The granting of this license by the MoMMD is in line with ZCCM-IH’s strategy to undertake mining related diversification particularly in the energy sector.

In order to undertake exploration works on the license area, ZCCM-IH has partnered with Oranto Petroleum (“Oranto”) a Nigerian based and the largest privately-owned oil exploration and production company in Africa. Oranto will own a 90% stake in this project while ZCCM-IH will retain 10%. Oranto will provide funding and technical support for the project. The technical support will include the provision of training to ZCCM-IH Technical Staff in oil and gas exploration and production.

Dr P C Kasolo
Chief Executive Officer
Issued in Lusaka, Zambia on Tuesday, 10th July 2018

Lusaka Securities Exchange Sponsoring Broker
	T | +260-211-232456 E | advisory@sbz.com.zm W | www.sbz.com.zm Stockbrokers Zambia Limited (SBZ) is a member of the Lusaka Securities Exchange and is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Zambia

First Issued on Tuesday, 10th July 2018

1. INTRODUCTION
Industrial Development Corporation Limited (“IDC”) is the majority shareholder in ZCCM Investments Holdings Plc (“ZCCM-IH”), holding 60.28% of the total issued share capital of ZCCM-IH.

IDC requested bridge financing from ZCCM-IH. The Board of ZCCM-IH considered and approved IDC’s request on 29 March 2018. Therefore, ZCCM-IH has advanced a loan to IDC at commercial terms (“the Transaction”).

2. TRANSACTION DETAILS
In line with the Listings Requirements of the Lusaka Securities Exchange (“LuSE”), this announcement sets out the major salient details of the Transaction, amongst others, as follows:

3. CATEGORISATION OF THE TRANSACTION
The nature of the Transaction is classified as a Small-Related-Party Category 2 Transaction and is not subject to regulatory and Shareholder approval according to Section 10.7 of the Lusaka Securities Exchange Listings Rules.

By Order of the Board
Chabby Chabala
Company Secretary
Issued in Lusaka, Zambia on Friday, 15th June 2018

Lusaka Securities Exchange Sponsoring Broker
	T | +260-211-232456 E | advisory@sbz.com.zm W | www.sbz.com.zm Stockbrokers Zambia Limited (SBZ) is a founder member of the Lusaka Securities Exchange and is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Zambia

First Issued on Friday, 15th June 2018

ZCCM-IH has increased its dividend policy to 35 per cent of net profit after tax from 20 per cent as part of the company’s strategic plan for the next five years following a substantial increase in copper prices.

According to ZCCM-IH’s 2017 Annual Report Presentation issued last week, ZCCM-IH has increased its dividends policy to 35 per cent of net profit after tax, from 20 per cent, as part of the strategic plan for the next five years.

ZCCM-IH chief executive officer, Dr Pius Kasolo, said the increment had been effected following a substantial increase in copper prices on the international market, which have averaged over US $6,000 per metric tonne since last year.

“As you can see from the financial highlights, the performance of the company has been positive, both at Group and at Company levels, compared to the previous year 2016. The latter part highlighted the economic fundamentals, both at country and global level, and my assignment for now is to state how, as a company we are positioning for the future by taking advantage of these fundamentals. We have put in place a Strategic Plan for the next five years from 2018 to 2023, which is an embodiment of the vision and strategic goals that will provide the thrust for ZCCM-IH Plc to achieve its full potential in returning value to its shareholders as well as becoming a useful corporate citizen to the other stakeholders. Increase shareholder value; increasing revenue and profits is our goal and diversifying into growth priority sectors is our winning strategy. Earlier on in the presentation, you saw that we have also increased our dividend policy from 20 per cent to 35 per cent of net profit after tax,” Dr Kasolo announced during a media briefing in Lusaka.

“In its 2018-2023 Strategy, ZCCM-IH has prioritized the generation of consistent and predictable income. New measures will be put in place to extract value from legacy and post-legacy portfolio companies. Further, as mentioned earlier on, growth priority sectors have been identified that will drive diversification and de-risking of the portfolio, providing additional revenue income streams. These include the energy, manufacturing and value addition sectors. A number of Greenfield and brownfield projects have been identified and lined up. ZCCM-IH will seek strategic partnerships to develop and exploit these opportunities to achieve above market returns. For the 2018-2023 planning period, we will embark on strategic internal income-generating ventures that will continue to drive business to profitability and returns across the portfolio of assets. ZCCM-IH intends to invest in available opportunities in mineral beneficiation and value-addition, while realizing optimal and tangible returns for its shareholders. Moving forward, we will continue focusing development activities in several key sectors that are intended to give ZCCM-IH diversification benefits whilst continuing to participate in the mining sector.”

And data in the Report reveals that the share of ZCCM-IH’s losses reduced by 91 per cent during its financial year under review despite low production that year.

“Despite low production in 2017, there was an improvement in the performance of the investee companies due to improved copper prices. The share of loss reduced by 91 per cent. Reversal of impairment of price participation receivable (that was considered irrecoverable previously) of K719 million contributed to the profit recorded during the financial year. The impairment of the Ndola Lime Plant (as a result of continued poor performance over the years) of K861 million negatively affected both the group profit and total assets. With a good future outlook, the fair value of the investee companies increased and positively contributed to the profit of both the group and company,” stated the Report.

Source: News Diggers